On top of the world Grand Line is Paradise
by Mjus
Summary: Ruffy and her crew has finally made it to Grand Line. Her journey to become the King of the Pirates is just beginning.
1. Part 1-1 Island Whale

Hello, all my readers, new and old alike. Welcome to Grand Line Paradise, my moster no. 2. Since One Piece is a long way from bing finished, who knows how long this thing is going to be by the end. How many installments will it have. Will I even be able to write this until the end?

Malin; You started it; now you finish it.

Me; Reality is Harsh. Oh well, I was gaining a little popularity with the first part; On Top Of The World; Romance Dawn, so while it's not my most popular one, it's still in pretty high demand. Thus I will continue to write. So to all my loyal readers who have followed me all the way here; Thank you.

To all my new readers; Welcome. Please enjoy the madness. And if you wish to read the first half; On top of the World; Romance dawn, you may find it on my profile.

* * *

**_Part 1; Island Whale_**

**_Chapter 1/4; There's an entrance for a reason_**

One of these days, Buggy knew his luck would run out. Today he had been struck by lightning, and if he hadn't had a devil fruit power he knew for sure he'd be dead now. Sure, he still felt the effect of the electricity in all of his muscles, lungs and heart included, but otherwise he was just sooty. Next the marine had captured both him and Alvida in a sea-stone net. Because _of course_ this island had a captain with a devil fruit, _and_ knew how to deal with pirates who had eaten devil fruits. This was Logue Town for crying out loud!

Well, Straw hat had also survived, and the marine officer had gone after her, which meant Buggy and his men plus Alvida, with a little help of the brewing storm, had managed to escape. Buggy had kept the net though, just in case. He wasn't stupid enough to rely only on his devil fruit power, he'd been through too much to not know what happened to those who thought they were invincible just because they had some inhuman power.

Now the clown pirates and Alvida were back in their hideout, where they found Moji and Ritchie.

"Good. I trust you burnt Straw-hat's ship to charcoal," Buggy said and was about to step past his right-hand man.

"It's quite funny actually…" Moji started, laughing nervously.

The clown captain bore his gaze into Moji and Ritchie. "Did you _not_ burn their ship?"

"It took some time to find it, and then it started raining…"

Buggy really had had enough of bad luck, and the beast-tamer certainly deserved the beating he received. The upside was that beating Moji released a lot of Buggy's stress and made him think clearly again.

"If Monster girl still has her ship then she's on her way to Grand Line already. Let's follow her."

All of his men, and even Alvida started. "Grand Line?!"

"But captain!"

"Don't be a fool, Buggy," Alvida protested. "We don't know enough about that sea. According to the rumours not even half of all the ships trying actually manage to survive entering the Grand Line."

"Why so shocked?" Buggy asked calmly. "We have unfinished business with Straw-hat. It's a perfect opportunity. Besides, don't underestimate us. We have everything we need to _return_ to the Grand Line."

* * *

Smoker's heart was still pumping with adrenaline when he returned to the base. Dragon, the rebel leader and wanted by the whole world. Well, Smoker didn't have much of a problem with the rebels against the world government, rebels weren't pirates and they didn't aid pirates. Yet today in this very city, the rebel leader himself had shown up and stopped the capture of one single pirate.

There was something else going on here.

And Buggy the clown plus Alvida and their crew had escaped. As if Smoker cared about such small fry when Mugiwara no Ruffy set off every single one of his inner alarms.

"Ready a ship! I'm going to continue my pursuit of the straw-hat!"

"What?"

Smoker's eyes narrowed at the protest. "I'm going to the Grand Line."

The troops around him gaped in disbelief. All but one.

"I'm coming too!" Tashigi shouted, much to Smoker's surprise. "I can't forgive that Lolonoa Zoro! I'll bring him down with my own two hands!"

Well, that was a rather good look on the woman, Smoker thought. Tashigi would never have that air of a woman scorned that made men cower in fear, but the face she pulled now was pretty close.

"B-but sir!" the sergeant protested. "This town us under your jurisdiction! What will your superiors say when they hear…"

Smoker shot the man down with one dangerous look and a message. "Tell them they can't order me around."

* * *

"Here Nami! Log pose!"

The navigator took the gift her captain handed to her with some surprise. They were still in the middle of the storm and Ruffy had just stopped in passing –wearing Sanji's clothes and smelling like burnt flesh for some reason– to hand over the strange trinket before moving on. It looked like a cheap bracelet with a glass ball with a compass needle inside it. Sweet gesture, Nami supposed with a shrug, and put the gift in her pocket. She had other things to worry about.

Ruffy jumped onto Merry's head after pulling the ropes of the sails a little tighter. The ship was light and the wind was strong, also it was a tailwind, which meant Ruffy wasn't getting any rain in her eyes as she studied the lighthouse.

"Everyone! Gather inside, I need to tell you something," Nami suddenly yelled.

Sanji had been in the kitchen for a few minutes already, making tea and salmon rice balls for when anyone needed some warmth and energy. He served the crewmembers cups of tea as they arrived one after another.

Ruffy was last. Actually, Sanji wasn't so sure she would even come inside the kitchen due to whatever issue she had. But he suddenly heard a strange noise outside the door, right before Ruffy walked inside the kitchen, keeping a tight hold of Sanji's blazer with one hand and digging the other in underneath it. A moment later she pulled out the remains of her red tank top.

"It came off," she said with a sad frown.

"What happened?!" Usopp cried out. "It looks like it got burnt!" He suddenly sniffed the air. "Actually, it smells like something got burnt."

"It should. Ruffy was struck by lightning," Zoro said, frowning, probably at the fact he didn't know what to do with or for Ruffy. Sanji had to admit, at least to himself, that he was as lost as the other in what to do. He wanted to worry about Ruffy, dote on her and most of all check the damage. But they'd been a little preoccupied until now. And even now was a bad time to start doing something.

"Struck. By. Lightning?" Usopp repeated each word individually, as if they didn't belong in the same sentence. He looked at Sanji with a rather deadpan face. "Why isn't she dead?"

The cook could only shrug helplessly.

"Shouldn't I be alive?" Ruffy pouted, before something seemed to catch up with her. "I was struck by lightning?" she asked Zoro.

"Yes," the swordsman said slowly as Sanji handed a cup of tea to the girl. "Right as Buggy was about to behead you, lightning struck."

"Oh. I thought someone hit me in the back with a hammer or something. So it was lightning huh?"

She sure took it well. Unfortunately, as she accepted the tea, she spasmed again and threw the hot beverage right at Sanji and broke the cup in her hand at the same time. The cook quickly lifted his arm to protect his face.

"Sorry!" Ruffy gasped. "I can't control it."

"Of course you can't!" Nami cried. "Getting _any_ kind of electricity into you messes up your body's functions! I'm surprised you can even walk."

Sanji exchanged a look with Zoro, silently agreeing on not saying that Ruffy actually hadn't been able to walk for a while.

"Well whatever, sit down. There's something you need to know," the navigator ordered.

Sanji gently pulled Ruffy towards the bench by the wall to sit beside Zoro. There was no blood on her hand so crushing the cup hadn't hurt her further, but Sanji still had a little mess to clean up. The fact that Ruffy showed no kind of discomfort from the fact she was inside the kitchen, and that she didn't seem to understand Nami's order showed that the lightning might have done more than just physical damage. He could only hope it wasn't permanent.

"The entrance to the Grand Line is a mountain!" Nami declared.

All the boys said; "Mountain?!"

Ruffy hiccupped and said; "I know."

Nami opened her mouth, just to close it again when Ruffy's words registered. "You know?"

"Sun told me. She was going to show it to me and let our boat sail up the mountain." Ruffy then pouted. "But the marines are cheating and go straight through the Calm Belt, so they cut us off."

"That's impossible!" Nami protested. "Nobody can cross the Calm Belt and survive!"

Usopp looked between the girls. "What's the Calm Belt?"

"And why does Grand Line have an _entrance_ to begin with? Can't we just sail south and still enter?" Zoro had to ask, not exactly sure why Ruffy would say "Sail up the mountain", which was physically impossible no matter how he looked at it. Water don't run upwards and boats can't climb.

"You use the entrance to _avoid_ the Calm Belt, which is…" Nami was saying when the cook's surprised voice cut her off.

"Hey, we're out of the storm."

Sanji had just cleaned up the shards of Ruffy's crushed cup, still listening carefully to Nami's voice when he'd cast a glance out the window. The rain and darkness outside had suddenly given way to sunshine.

Nami and Ruffy both startled. "What?"

"We shouldn't be! The storm should have taken us all the way to the entrance!" Nami said.

Ruffy jumped up and ran out. "Fucking shit! We've drifted into the Calm Belt!" she cried, and it was the very first time Sanji heard fear in her voice. Nami too turned pale fast.

All the boys went outside too, looking to the clear sky.

"Oh, I can see the storm over there, but the water's almost still here," Usopp observed.

"There's no wind at all," Zoro noticed.

"Everybody grab the oars and start rowing!" Nami cried furiously. "We have to get back into the storm!"

"We have ours?! Where?" Ruffy demanded.

"In the storage below. Get them all," Nami ordered, not bothering with the happy surprise Ruffy was just as anxious as Nami to get back on course.

The captain was quick to obey. It was this fact that had Zoro really start to wonder. Ruffy was anything but a scaredy-cat, and aside from cooks (which was a strange phobia either way) she didn't show much fear. So to see her anxious now had the swordsman glance at Nami again.

"So? What happened?"

"We drifted south just like you suggested!" Nami yelled angrily.

"So we're in Grand Line now?" the swordsman asked looking around. With the wonderful weather and sunshine, it was certainly underwhelming considering all the horror stories.

"If it was this easy anyone could enter!" Nami screeched. "Listen up, all of you! Grand Line is surrounded by two seas called the Calm Belt! That is where we're stuck right now!"

"I got the oars!" Ruffy cried as she ran out from the storage, only to run straight into Usopp.

"And what's so bad about being here?" Zoro pressed Nami, narrowing her eyes.

The navigator didn't have time to answer, because suddenly the ship shook and tilted, then lifted high up in the air. Ruffy and Usopp rolled to the railing, the captain grabbing for the oars with one hand and pressing the other over her ear.

Sanji jumped after the two, and what he saw over the railing made his heart almost stop. Usopp fainted.

Going Merry was suddenly about a thousand meters above the sea, sitting on the snout of a monster.

Zoro was by the mast, but he didn't need to be anywhere else to see the unimaginably large heads and colourful bodies that were suddenly covering the sky around them. Not to mention he had a perfect view of a black and white forehead as big as a whole island with sleepy eyes on both sides.

"Calm Belt is the home of all the worlds' largest sea kings!" Nami cried, clinging onto the main mast, certain that this was it. This was where their journey ended. They'd sailed straight into Calm Belt and would be crushed or eaten by the biggest sea monsters in the world.

Sanji and Zoro both fumbled and grabbed an oar each.

"G-got it," the swordsman stammered, promising himself to take Nami's words at face value from now on. He'd even believe they could sail up a mountain or whatever the entrance called for! "Then we'll row like fucking hell as soon as soon as this thing dives again!"

"Roger!" Sanji agreed, dying to light another cigarette but didn't want to let go of the oar.

Ruffy too had a death-grip on an oar, but she was looking rather green. She also looked a lot like she wanted more arms as she was trying to cover her mouth and ears and hold an oar and the groggy Usopp at the same time.

Then the monster whose snout their ship sat on made a strange noise, Going Merry rocked, and then it was like some sort of underwater explosion unexpectedly shot the ship in the belly, sending her flying. Zoro just managed to catch his captain before she faceplanted on the deck like Usopp –which effectively woke him– and the cook both did. He looked over at Nami, who hadn't let go of the mast and was now holding onto it like a last life-line as gravity took hold of them again. The swordsman looped his arm around the railing, using the oar as a lock and grabbed his captain's neck when Usopp for some reason tried to fly away but was held back by Ruffy who only had one oar in her other hand.

Rain and lightning engulfed them all and the sea returned. Not even Zoro could keep from hitting the deck with a painful sound. Once again the stormy winds tore at their clothes and thunder rolled overhead.

"Safe. Back into the storm," Usopp groaned.

"Do you now understand why people use the entrance?" Nami asked Zoro, who could only nod.

"I hate being drunk."

The swordsman's eyes snapped to his right hand that held onto his captain's neck. She'd vomited, but it was quickly carried away by the rain.

"Drunk?" he asked tensely.

"I had to *hic* win the Grand Line compass and it was awful."

That… no, didn't make sense, but it actually explained a few things, like why Ruffy had walked into the kitchen and had troubles understanding directions. It might also explain why she'd been at the top of the execution stand, but Zoro wasn't about to bet money on that one. She'd done worse stuff sober.

"I get it! The ship will be pulled up the mountain."

"You're still going on about that?" Usopp asked. "And why _up_ the mountain? Why not through?"

"Here," Nami held up the chart. "It's the sea currents. In theory, if all four seas have strong currents going in the direction of reverse mountain, then they would push the water up the waterway. Since we're already riding the current, all we have to worry about is steering."

Ruffy hiccupped and heaved a yellowish, watery substance the rain quickly carried over the railing. "And if we miss the entrance…" she spit over her shoulder, "we'll crash against Red Line and the current will take us to the bottom of the sea."

"Exactly," Nami nodded with excitement glowing in her eyes. "So get to work boys. We need to adjust the sails, grab the helm. We're about to enter Grand Line!"

"Aye, Navigator!"

"Nami-san is wonderful," Sanji sighed dreamily.

"So we're going to climb a mountain with the ship?" Zoro asked as he and the cook adjusted the sail.

"I've heard about it," the cook said around a smile.

"The mountain?" Zoro asked.

"The Grand Line," the blond corrected. "Half of the time people die just trying to enter, and those who do are half dead when they manage."

Anyone with self-preservation would get worried at that, but the cook looked eager, and Zoro couldn't deny he was curious himself. No matter how impossible it sounded to climb a mountain with a ship, if it could be done Zoro wanted to know how much craziness they would face in Grand Line.

"I see the entrance!" Ruffy yelled from the port side where she was keeping the sail taunt.

"Hey! What's that huge shadow?! It's enormous!" Usopp yelled.

Zoro looked over. Indeed, through the rain and mist he saw something even darker, like a wall that covered the entirety of their vision.

"It's Red Line!" Nami yelled.

"I can't even see the top! It disappears into the clouds!"

And they were heading straight towards it. Zoro hurriedly scanned the wall for anything that looked like a waterway or entrance or whatever.

"We're getting sucked in! Grab the helm!" Ruffy yelled.

"Aye, aye Captain!" Usopp and the cook answered.

Nami handed her spyglass over to Zoro, her face full of awe. "It's amazing," she breathed.

"I can't believe it," Zoro agreed as he spotted what looked like several archways, way larger than their ship, in which water was pulled in and running _upwards_ the mountain. He noticed the arches were made of steel of some sort and had designs on them, suggesting it was actually manmade and not natural.

"We're drifting too far port!" Ruffy called. "Hard to starboard!"

"Roger!" came the answering call, and then the sound of snapping wood.

Everyone looked up. Usopp and Sanji were both on the ground, staring at the broken helm. They were still off course, heading straight for the archway rather than the waterway.

"We're crashing!"

Ruffy suddenly jumped off the ship. Zoro almost swallowed his tongue and ran after her, spluttering. The girl landed with her feet against the steel of the archway, and when Merry hit her, she used all momentum she had to push the ship into the waterway, saving them in the nick of time because in that second when Merry was almost still, pushing against Ruffy, she had started tipping dangerously far forward. Zoro desperately ran along the railing, reached down and grabbed Ruffy, hurling her aboard before she lost the pressure of Merry and fell into the ocean herself. The ship scraped against the arch, earning a slight dent, but she was on the right course, sailing up the mountain, heading for Grand Line.

Ruffy looked up at Zoro, who let out a breath of relief to see her alive.

"We did it," Ruffy whispered. Then she sprung up and ran to the bow along with the rest of them. "WE DID IT!"


	2. Part 1-2 Island Whale

_**Part 1; Island Whale**_

_**Chapter 2/4; Wailing at the Twin Peak**_

The Mugiwara pirate crew was climbing a mountain with their ship. Or rather, their ship was sailing on a waterway that took them up a mountain. It was a strange experience, and the adrenaline rush of almost crashing upon entrance was leaving them all a little shaky. Still they were all riding a wave of anticipation and excitement.

Sanji didn't know what to expect in this sea or with this crew he was now a part of. And he was a part of this crew. He was more included in this rag-tag team than he ever thought he'd be. Yet, what he did know was that he was ready for it. Ready for Grand Line and so, so ready to search for All Blue.

Usopp whooped as they reached the peak of the mountain, Merry jumping like a bunny before the water turned her to head back down, in the direction of Grand Line. Usopp hadn't quite grasped it yet; he was a real pirate, fighting real battles and he already had so many stories to tell Kaya, Piiman, Ninjin and Tamanegi that he knew none of them would believe; because they were too wild to be true! And that was only East Blue.

Grand Line was the sea Hawkeye resided in. But somehow that wasn't very important right now. Zoro was enjoying the moment of crazy calmness that drifted through him as they secured the sails and descended the mountain at high speed. Zoro knew he had a lot of work to do before he was ready to face the greatest swordsman in the world for a rematch. He had a lot of training to do, a lot of battles to fight and his own arrogance to trample. But with the wind and sea in his face and the rush of the success of entering Grand Line, he was just happy, content even with the joyful cries of the friends that surrounded him.

Nami threw off her new raincoat and forgot about it. They were entering Grand Line! She could finally start working on this part of the sea that nobody had ever charted before. She would be the first! The very first person to ever map this sea. She couldn't wait!

Ruffy was seated on Merry's head, which had quickly become her favourite spot of the ship, with only one thought in her head. "The greatest sea in all the world. I'm home."

She'd been born in East Blue, raised with other children, taken care of by people whose faces she could barely remember anymore. Sun's face however was clear, and Ruffy thought she saw the shadow of her in the mist that they were entering. A shadow that was… growing…

"Hey, what's that sound?" Zoro asked, tilting his head.

"It was probably the wind," Nami said confidently. "The cliffs around here are supposedly strangely shaped."

Ruffy was still watching the shadow she'd thought was Sun. It was turning out to be a shadow she could actually see with her own eyes and not just her imagination. And it had the shape of something… No, Ruffy couldn't figure out what the shape looked like.

There was however a sound mixing with the wind, like wailing. There was also a heartbeat…

The rest of the crew had silenced their whooping.

"Nami-san, there's a mountain ahead!" Sanji called from the mast where he was awaiting orders to release the sails.

"Mountain? That can't be! Once we pass the Twin Peak it should be open sea!"

Ruffy was still looking at the shadow and trying to make sense of the heartbeat echoing around her. They were still going incredibly fast, and it was slowly dawning on the captain that something, probably something living, were blocking their way, and they were about to hit it with enough force to turn Going Merry into toothpicks.

The wailing sounded again, much louder.

_"__You promised."_

They cleared the mist.

"It's not a mountain!" Sanji reported, or corrected himself, he wasn't sure.

"It's a wall!" Usopp shrieked, because that's all he could see; a high, blank, black wall they were about to hit.

The wailing echoed, and Nami put the pieces together. "Oh shit no! It's a _whale_!"

Zoro spotted an opening between the cliffs and body of the giant… _unimaginably_ giant whale as it kept getting bigger and bigger the closer they got.

"Portside! There's an opening! Take the helm!"

"But it's broken!" Usopp cried.

"Fix it! I'll help!" the swordsman yelled and ran to the kitchen to help Usopp, closely followed by the cook. At the same time Ruffy shook her head, having been momentarily frozen by the cries of the whale's heart. They were about to crash, the men were trying to steer clear but Merry was too stuck in the current. An idea lit up in Ruffy's head like a lightbulb.

To Nami's utter surprise, the captain turned, jumped down to lower deck and went inside the bow storeroom. Nami herself stood frozen in indecision.

The whale cried, Usopp, Zoro and Sanji tried with all their might to push and pull the piece of helm they still had to steer Merry clear of the whale. But they were too close. In six seconds they'd hit that wall and…

And then their cannon went off.

Nami flew forward from the recoil, falling to her knees, right before they hit the whale, fairly lightly, but with enough force to nearly knock Nami out on the railing. Merry's head broke off, but otherwise, they were… well, _safe_ was not the word any of them were about to use, but they were alive.

Except for the fact Ruffy had just tried to shoot the whale, alerted it to their presence and was now just one shake of its head away from sinking them all.

Nami was just bracing herself for that to happen, could almost feel the cold of the ocean on her skin.

"This is it. We're dead," the navigator said to herself, her heart beating so hard she thought it was about to explode.

Inside the kitchen the guys were also experiencing a sense of doom. Usopp was scrambling backwards as if that was going to put any distance between him and something the size of that whale. Sanji was frozen, looking at Merry's severed head like it was his own.

Zoro was looking between the black, eyeless surface in front of him and the tiny little opening to their right.

Everything was, oddly, deathly quiet.

"G-grab an oar and row!" Zoro's voice suddenly called out, and Usopp and Sanji jumped up in agreement.

"What the hell, didn't it notice it was shot?" Usopp asked as he and Sanji manned one oar, trying to keep the same pace as Zoro on the other side of the ship.

"Maybe it's just really slow," Sanji suggested and would be very happy and hopefully still alive at the end of the day if he was right.

"Who cares! Less talking, more rowing," Zoro hissed at them, because they had gotten Merry out of the stream, and right above them was an eye several times bigger than their ship.

The whale wailed again, and this close the sound tore through them all, their cries drowned out in the call of this mighty creature.

Unfortunately, Ruffy was not on the same page as the rest of her crew, and for once she was too angry to react to the lonely call of a big heart. She stomped out on the deck, cannonball in hand and tears in her eyes.

"Merry's head," she was saying, glaring at the eye of the whale. Then, before anyone could stop her, she threw the cannonball at the whale's eye crying; "YOU RUINED MY FAVOURITE SPOT!"

Zoro had been with Ruffy longer than any of the others, had seen her get her bony ass into one crazy situation after another, had called her an idiot almost every day since they'd met.

Now he wanted to kill her.

Usopp both loved and hated Ruffy's crazy side, even though he knew it would probably be the death of him one day. It was a thrill when they survived. Now they were doomed.

Sanji and Nami both just cried and choked on air because that had just happened. The whale was looking at them and Ruffy was picking a fight as if the creature wasn't the size of at least two mountains.

"Want to fight! Bring it!" Ruffy yelled at the whale.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Zoro and Usopp shouted, both with a high pitch to their voices as they jump-kicked Ruffy, anything to stop her from digging their graves even deeper.

It didn't change the fact she had dug their grave though, because the whale opened its mouth wide, the water flowing between teeth that were three times the size of Going Merry. Ruffy was knocked overboard, and while Zoro fumbled to catch her, he wasn't looking too closely as he was focused on the mouth closing around them again. To think their adventure would face such a sudden and instantaneous end.

* * *

Usopp had never had a problem wording his stories, the descriptions of his fantasies always flowing smoothly. His friends back in Syrup village rarely believed him, and they would never believe this particular story, he knew. But at the moment he wondered as much as his crewmates what had just happened. And what words to use to explain the experience.

"What do you make of this?" Sanji asked from the other side of Nami.

"What do I make of this?" Zoro asked back, his voice strangely stiff and slow. Not that Usopp could blame him. He had yet to find his own voice after all. Beside him Nami was just gaping at the sight of the bright blue sky, green water and the tiny islands with a house on the biggest one and a palm tree on the other, giving shade to a chair and a small table.

"Yes, what _do_ you make of it?" Sanji repeated. "Because I could of sworn we were just swallowed up by a whale… are we dreaming?"

Zoro nodded slowly once, and then again more firmly. "Yes, this must be a dream."

Usopp was ready to happily write this off as a dream. It certainly made more sense than getting-swallowed-up-boat-and-all-by-an-unbelievably-humongous-whale-and-finding-another-world he thought had happened. Had they even entered Grand Line?

But then a squid –way smaller than the whale they may or may not have encountered, but certainly bigger than Going Merry– rose its head up in front of the ship, curious tentacles poking at Merry's hull.

Usopp and Nami reacted first, hastily jumping away from the monster with a shriek. Sanji and Zoro were a little slow, still trying to figure out if any of this was real or if they'd died without noticing.

But then the squid jerked, three harpoons penetrating its scull, and it sank back into the water with twitching tentacles.

"Seems there are people here," Zoro said from where he had frozen beside what used to be Merry's head.

"Let's hope they _are_ people," Sanji countered.

"Should we open fire?" Usopp asked nervously, ready to do just that and blow this dream to the moon.

"This is madness. I want to go home," Nami whined beside him.

"No, wait," Zoro said, hand resting lightly on his katana.

The harpoons had come from the house, and out the door stepped…

"It's a flower!" Sanji cried in surprise.

"No, stupid! It's a human… I think," Zoro protested weakly. Because it had to be a human. And old guy with an interesting hairstyle, or a hat, that definitely made his head look like a flower. The old man gave them a hard look, then pulled the squid ashore and into his house. When he came back out he glared at the straw hats.

And sat down under the palm tree with a cup of tea and a newspaper.

"SAY SOMETHING!" Sanji cried in outrage, because he was having a shitty strange day already and this old fart wasn't helping!

The old man just kept looking strangely at them.

"You looking to fight? We do have a cannon you know!" Usopp yelled.

Sanji cast a quick look behind him to make sure Nami was still there and safe. She looked confused and nervous, but otherwise as beautiful as ever.

"If you open fire, blood will be spilled," the old man said ominously.

"Oh yeah?" Sanji challenged, tensing up for a fight. "And whose blood would that be?"

The old man turned a page in his newspaper and said; "Mine."

"BUT CRY ME A RIVER!"

Sanji was seconds away from jumping over to the old man and kicking his teeth out when Zoro suddenly pulled him back with a firm grip around Sanji's bicep.

"Calm down."

"He's just pulling my leg," the cook hissed, but let Zoro step in.

"Excuse us, gramps. You wouldn't mind telling us who you are and, well, _where_ we are?"

The man glared at them again. "You want to know such things, but it's proper manners to introduce yourself before you ask who I am."

That was absolutely right, but Zoro felt he was stressed out already after everything else that had happened today and he was getting worried about Ruffy.

"Of course, my bad…" the swordsman started.

"My name is Crocus. Lighthouse keeper on the Twin Peak. 71 years old, Gemini, blood group B."

That's when Zoro's patience broke and he turned to his crewmates. "CAN I KILL HIM?!"

"There, there, keep a cool head," Usopp said and gingerly patted Zoro's back and holding Sanji back at the same time.

"And about where you are?" the old man continued. "You intrude in my private little resort and wonder where you are? Where do you think? Inside a the stomach of a rat?"

That answered one overhanging question.

"So… we really _were_ swallowed by that whale," Usopp squawked and looked around at the blue sky, the clouds and the green water. "But this doesn't look like the inside of a stomach…" not that he actually did know what that looked like, but Usopp was pretty sure normal stomachs didn't have skies inside them. Or maybe the whale had swallowed a piece of the sky?!

"Wait! Hold on! This sea is stomach acids?!" Nami cried looking alarmingly blue in the face. "What's going to happen to us? I don't want to be digested! We have to get out somehow!"

Of course Nami had to go and make Usopp think about _that_ too.

"There's an exit over there," the old man pointed out offhandedly.

The pirates turned as one, all with the same surprise. "There's an exit?!"

Usopp blinked, rubbed his eyes and looked again. It certainly was a gate off to their left, but before that was a whole new bunch of questions rising.

"Why does the whale has an exit in the stomach?" Usopp asked the most obvious one.

"And… how is it floating in the sky like that?" Nami asked, right before she started taking a closer look at the sky in question.

"It doesn't," Usopp realized, though even if he did see through the charade, he still couldn't really believe it. "Look closely. The clouds aren't moving; the sky is a painting! The entire inside of the whale's stomach has been painted into a sky!"

"Just a pastime," the old man said and turned the paper.

"WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING IN HERE!" Usopp howled, because the size of this space was enough for them to sail in and the painted sky gave it the illusion of being endless. It must have taken _years_ to paint! He called it a pastime…

But Zoro was pulling Usopp back. "Leave the old guy. We have an exit and a captain that hopefully isn't dead by the time we get out of here."

It was … frustrating, Usopp decided. They had just entered the Grand Line, had been eaten by a whale that was so big Usopp couldn't even describe it, he was _dying_ with curiosity about this mysterious man living on an island (something the whale must have mistaken for a snack…) and now he had to worry about Ruffy too! He hadn't even seen what became of her after he and Zoro kicked her for attracting the whale's attention…

She had so deserved that kick.

* * *

They had been waiting for a week for this opportunity. Finally last night the old man had entered the whale, and the pair had jumped at the chance, carefully climbing up the side of the whale as it rose to cry at reverse mountain. Both of them had felt like parasites, the way they climbed the whale's sides without its notice. On the other hand, the lighthouse keeper had built doors and hallways inside the whale, so if anyone was a parasite, it was the old guy.

"Are you prepared, Miss Wednesday?"

"I am, Mr 9."

The pair, one dressed in a suit and a brass crown on his head embedded with glass jewels and the other in high boots, shot shorts and a fur-lined coat over a tight shirt with a circled pattern, uncovered their guns, making sure the gunpowder was dry.

They took off down the corridor, heading for the stomach. They knew the lighthouse keeper was there, probably preparing to sedate the whale again because the hallway was moving. Holding tightly to their weapons and the walls, the duo made their way towards the whale's stomach.

* * *

Ruffy had somehow survived. She wasn't exactly sure how she'd survived, there was a bit of a blackout between the whale opening its mouth and Ruffy finding herself sitting on the whale's head, shaking from head to toe for a number of reasons.

"They were eaten…"

But… they weren't dead. Ruffy could feel it in her heart. Zoro, Usopp and Nami all still had beating hearts. The captain berated herself for being such a coward and not listen to Sanji's heart. Until the day she did there was no way for her to tell if Sanji was alive or not if they got separated like they were now. Right now though, she had to believe he was alive and with the others. Ruffy just had to get them out of the whale. Preferably before it dove under the waves like its movements told her it was just about to do.

Looking around herself in desperation, Ruffy's eyes caught on a glint of metal and looked again, because that was metal in the shape of a familiar square.

The whale started going under the waves.

Ruffy ran to what looked like a door, grabbed the handle, tore it open, jumped in and secured the door behind her.

Only then did she realize that it was indeed a door, and now she was inside a whale. She caught a quick look at her surroundings; a corridor of wood and metal, before the air suddenly vibrated with the whale's heartbeat, going straight through everything that was Ruffy.

_You promised! I'm still waiting! Can't you hear me?! I'm waiting!_

* * *

Crocus sighed as the acids around him started to act up right before the space shook violently.

"So he's at it again," he sighed, heart aching with grief and frustration because there was only so much he could do.

"What's happening?!" the children from the ship Laboon had swallowed cried out to him.

"The whale is bashing his head against the cliffs of Red Line," Crocus called back and took the rudder of the small boat he was on.

Since whales can't digest metal, Crocus had made two boats of iron and turned them into islands inside Laboon's stomach, to make sure he had access to him when the whale was underwater, banging his head against this wall that was never going to bend. This way Crocus could minimalize the damage Laboon did to himself.

But the boat wasn't moving very fast. Fearless of the acids in Laboon's stomach, Crocus jumped in and swam over to the gate where he had built a ladder up to a smaller door, leading to a room closer to the heart that held all the sedates and the giant needle.

"Stop hurting yourself, Laboon!" Crocus said, even though he knew his old friend couldn't hear him.

Taking account, the old man made a face as he prepared the needle. "I don't have a lot of sedative left. Need to make more."

He pressed the needle into the unprotected flesh, sending the medicine straight into the whale's blood, calming him within the minute.

Sighing again, Crocus returned to the stomach. He sensed he had more trouble waiting for him there.

In the meantime, the straw hat crew had been reunited with their captain in again the strangest way the girl could manage. Zoro, Usopp and Sanji had just gotten the oars out, the old man was still swimming towards the ladder beside the gate that was presumably their exit, when Ruffy and two other weird people burst through the small door at the top of the ladder.

Zoro reacted first, reaching out with the oar as far as he could in hopes of catching the girl before she fell into the acids. She latched onto the very tip of the oar, the force of her fall causing Zoro to strain every muscle in his back and arms to keep the oar straight and above acid level.

The cook quickly jumped in to help bring the girl aboard.

"Should we save the other two as well?" Usopp asked, looking over the railing where the two weird people had fallen in.

"Getting digested sounds like a horrible way to go," Nami said, but didn't move to aid them.

The strange duo however were seemingly very aware they hadn't landed in water, and both could swim. They went straight to Merry and cried for help.

"It's a lady! I'll fetch the ladder!" Sanji cried, apparently not at all eager to jump in to save her, Usopp thought as Ruffy landed groggily on the deck.

The sniper kneeled beside her. "Oi Ruffy. You okay? How'd you get here?"

Sanji returned in a flash and threw the ladder over the railing, almost forgetting to secure it. The two weirdos were quick to climb up, wiping their faces and shaking their hands and clothes shuddering all the while.

They were also carrying large bazookas.

"Who are you?" Nami asked pointedly.

The duo they had fished up glanced around, and upon seeing the flag they sat closer together.

"Mr 9, they are pirates," the woman breathed, but in such tight quarters as they currently were in, Ruffy was probably the only one who didn't catch that.

"I know Miss Wednesday, but they might be on our side," the male whispered back.

Nami narrowed her eyes in suspicion. She was anything but a fool, but she wasn't sure about the roles of each party here. In the middle was the whale who had been crying at Reverse Mountain and was banging its head against the Red Line in an aggressive expression of suffering. Then there was the old man who had first Nami assumed was here in order to cut that suffering short. But now here were another two players on the field, and those large bazookas said their intentions weren't friendly. Their false jewellery though said they were make-believe king and princess, so they might as well be a couple of clowns… unrelated to Buggy, Nami hoped.

"As long as I'm alive, you won't lay a single finger on Laboon!"

Everyone looked up. At the top of the ladder stood the old man, looking grim.

The pirates blinked, Ruffy groaned quietly, and the weird duo started cackling. They grabbed their bazookas and aimed into the painted sky a little off the platform where the old man Crocus stood.

"We're already inside the stomach!" the princess stated.

"And it'll be all too easy to…"

Ruffy suddenly wailed, the sound a copy of that of the whale, albeit lighter since she wasn't nearly as big, and it cut through everyone who heard. The duo who had been about to fire at the walls of the whale's stomach dropped their weapons and tried to cover their ears along with the rest of the Mugiwara crew.

"BLOODY SHIT! WE'RE INSIDE A BODY!" Zoro realized, or rather realized what that meant for Ruffy. The heartbeat of the whale must be echoing in here!

"What's going on?" Sanji demanded, torn between giving whatever protection or comfort he could give to Nami and the beautiful princess and running over to Ruffy.

"Ruffy! Are you trying to kill us?!" Usopp cried, because it felt like his very blood was hurting.

Nami was stumbling over to the rig, pulling Zoro along, glaring up at the old man by their exit. "Let us out!" she screamed desperately when Ruffy silenced, giving them a little leeway she doubted would last very long. "Ruffy's a devil fruit user! She can take in people's feelings and send them back! She can't control it!"

At Zoro's surprised look, the navigator just gave a helpless shrug and started to climb the rig to release the sails. She didn't know if that was actually correct, but it sounded good?

Ruffy's wailing started up again.

The gate opened into a waterway, but Usopp looked up and noticed the old man wasn't unaffected. The "king" was crying at them to get the wailing to stop.

The princess was on the deck, squirming like a worm with her mouth wide open as if she couldn't breathe. They really needed to get Ruffy out or…

Usopp hated himself, but when Ruffy next ran out of air, the teen rushed forward and kicked Ruffy in the temple as hard as he could.

She fell like a ragdoll and was quiet.

They were already entering the waterway, leaving the stomach behind. Usopp ran over to his captain, worried despite the fact he'd seen this girl trade blows with monsters like Arlong who was decidedly on a different planet from Usopp, strength wise.

Beside him, Sanji sighed. "Good thinking, even though I don't agree with your method."

Usopp however suddenly remembered the last time they had seen Ruffy unconscious, and grew pale.

"Don't panic when holding her!" Zoro hissed, coming back from helping Nami with the sails.

"I can't help it! You take her!"

Sanji watched, worried and confused, as the swordsman took their captain and pressed her tightly to his chest, sat down and took a long, deep breath as if calming himself.

"What's going on?"

"What Nami said," Usopp explained and pulled the cook with him so he could help manning the broken helm.

"Huh?"

"Basically," Usopp started, and felt the urge to lie to lighten the mood, but as a member of the crew, Sanji deserved to know. "Well, Ruffy fell unconscious once before, and she ended up panicking and biting Zoro pretty bad in the arm. She wouldn't say why it happened, at least not to Nami and I, but Zoro said something about night-terrors."

Sanji found a pair of brooms and used their shafts to stick into the openings on either side of the helm, creating a makeshift and barely functioning method of pulling the stump the way they needed.

"So she has really bad dreams?"

"Well, you saw the state of her heart, right? From what the rest of us shared, I seem to have been in a good place without so much blood, but I don't really want to see it again."

The cook pressed his lips into a thin line. "She hasn't listened to my heart yet."

"She hasn't? Why? She was so persistent with me."

Sanji fidgeted. "Because I'm a cook."

Surprisingly, understanding the issue made Usopp angry. "Oh, for the love of the sea! That girl is _hopeless_!"


	3. Part 1-3 Island Whale

_**Part 1; Island Whale**_

_**Chapter 3/4; Promises still last long after faith has faded**_

The king and his princess had been tightly tied together by Nami, who promptly presented them for Crocus, the lighthouse keeper on their way out of the whale.

"Those two uglies are rouges from a nearby island, coming here whale hunting. Laboon could easily feed their town for some two or three years. I just can't allow it."

"So you're not here to kill the whale then?" Nami asked.

"No, I'm a doctor. See the size of this whale? Can't really treat something like this from the outside. Now back up; I'm opening the gate."

The real sky, coloured by the sunset, had never been a more welcome sight and they all sighed in relief as they felt the change in the very air they breathed.

Ruffy regained consciousness a minute before they docked by the cliffs beside the lighthouse. To everyone's relief the girl had just shook her head forcefully and been back to herself, saying she couldn't remember anything after she'd found a door in the whale and gone inside.

"Why was there a door in the whale?"

"This man is a doctor treating the whale from the inside," Nami explained and hoped her captain understood.

Ruffy was quiet for a minute, shaking her head as if to clear it, then got distracted as she realized she was still wearing Sanji's blazer and nothing underneath it since even her bra had gotten burnt off her body. So she forgot about what she'd asked. Instead she made a quick trip into the girl's quarters to fetch some clothes so she could return Sanji's. It needed to be washed though, because she had been bleeding pretty bad for a while there.

"Hey Zoro. What's that?" the captain asked and stared curiously at the duo glancing warily at her after she told Sanji she put his blazer in the bathtub.

The male didn't bother her at all, the female however had a kind of heartbeat that strangely grated Ruffy's nerves.

"They were trying to kill this whale," the swordsman answered, jabbing a thumb at the drugged animal.

Ruffy glanced at it, then at an old man with a flower on his head. He had a strong, faithful heartbeat that Ruffy enjoyed a lot more than that of this duo. There was also a strong, emotional bond between whale and old man, and the king and princess sounded like they were scissors trying to cut that bond.

"Throw those overboard," the captain ordered, truly happy to not be around to hear the bond get cut. That would have deafened her for days.

"Hey! No fair!" the male protested and wiggled as Zoro picked them up to follow the order.

"Untie us!" the female demanded.

Ruffy stepped forward when something dropped out of the woman's pocket. Something familiar; another Log Pose. Perfect. Now she could have one as well. They weren't all that easy to find, even in the Grand Line.

Sanji watched as the brute swordsman threw their load over the railing. This was the downside of having a female captain; he was really torn when she gave such orders. Still he sighed dreamily as the princess resurfaced, yelled something at them and swam away with her king.

"Miss Wednesday. Such a mysterious woman."

"Allow me to start at the beginning," the lighthouse keeper said after docking. There was a flat area on the rocks where a sunchair stood under a parasol. The whale was swimming in circles out there, appearing to be simply drifting.

"The whale's name is Laboon, an island whale typically found in West Blue," Crocus started as he sat down in the sunchair and glanced at the horizon where the sun was slowly sinking.

There was a sturdy, wooden table there with a thick top and a stump as a leg. All around it stood more stumps, perfect for seating. Ruffy however sat on a rock, and Zoro opted to sit on the ground, leaning against the rock beside Ruffy's legs.

"How'd he end up here?" Ruffy asked with a tilted head, eyes straying to the whale that was slowly completing its circle and coming back. "He's not a pet; you seem more like uncle and nephew."

"You could probably say that," the keeper sighed. "You're right; he's not mine exactly, I'm looking out for him. That's sort of why he's bellowing at the Reverse Mountain and banging his head against the Red Line."

"A promise?"

Crocus looked up. He hadn't mentioned that. What had her redhaired friend said? A devil fruit that allowed her to take in people's feelings? Oh well, he'd seen weirder powers.

"Yes," he nodded. "When I was manning the lighthouse as usual one day a group of jolly pirates came down the Reverse Mountain, followed by a baby whale. That was Laboon."

Ruffy was now looking at the whale that had lifted up of the sea right in the mouth of the entrance. It was quite a sight to see the enormous animal this close.

"Laboon hadn't been supposed to come along. The pirates had told him to stay in West Blue and find his pod, but they hadn't realized they _were_ Laboon's pod; his family."

The whale started to give up a sound, but rather than the bellow it had been before, it was more like a tune, like he was singing. Ruffy slid down the rock beside Zoro, facing Laboon.

"The pirates' ship had been heavily damaged, and it took several months to repair it enough to sail the waters of this sea," Crocus carried on, trying to ignore the familiar tune Laboon was always singing when he was high on the medicine. "During that time I had become good friends with the lot of them. So when they were about to depart, the captain asked me to look after Laboon for two or three years. They said; 'Once we've sailed around the world we will come back for him, no matter what.' Laboon understood and stayed behind as they sailed off."

"So he's waiting for his friends to return?" Nami asked.

"He's still waiting," Crocus nodded. "He's waited for fifty years now."

"Shit, they're not coming back then," Sanji said with a bitter frown to his mouth. Fifty years was too long.

"Don't say such cold things!" Usopp protested. "They might still come! Can't you appreciate such a touching story of a whale who still believes in his friends' promise…!"

"It's worse than that," Crocus cut in, his voice sounding more old and tired than before. "They fled. Ran away. Escaped the Grand Line. I know from a reliable source."

"So they just left the whale behind?!" Nami demanded, her heart reaching out for the whale. "But that must mean they risked crossing Calm Belt!"

"Exactly," Crocus nodded. "So I don't know whether they are dead or not, but they never came back here, and they won't come back now. Grand Line does that to people; scares them. Break them down until they're afraid of their own shadows."

"So basically," Sanji started, hardening his own heart for this harsh reality "They were cowards; more concerned about their own lives, abandoned the promise and never returned."

"What do you mean 'abandoned the promise'!" Usopp demanded, his honourable heart furious and breaking by the fact there could be more people like Kuro in the world. "The whale has been waiting for fifty years! He's never even doubted them! How could they be so cruel!?"

"Then why won't you tell the whale about it?" Nami asked. "He can understand what you're saying, right?"

Once again the old man drew a long, deep and pained sigh. "I have told him, many times. He refuses to listen. In fact, the day I tried to tell him was the day he started bellowing at Reverse Mountain and bang his head against Red Line."

Ruffy had stopped listening to Crocus long ago. She was caught up in the whale's heart, his longing, and without knowing, she started singing with Laboon.

"Binkusu no sake wo, todoke ni yuku yo. Umikaze, kimakase, namimakase"

"A shanty? Now?" Sanji said, blinking in surprise.

Crocus's face was a show of pained bitterness. "Yes. They used to play this song for him."

"Then it's probably resounding in the whale's heart. Ruffy is freakishly good at picking out things like that," Zoro explained.

Not that he actually minded Ruffy's singing. She'd been doing that on an off after meals, and once in a while she happened to sing something she heard from the hearts of others. She'd sung something once from Usopp's village that was one of the few things he remembered from his mother, and once a child song that had only been sung in the dojo where Zoro grew up. It had been oddly comforting to hear it. He figured his captain was doing it to reconnect the whale's heart with a good feeling like it had done for both himself and Usopp.

By now Ruffy was deep inside Laboon's heart, still unconsciously singing the song that was echoing from the ship that was shining like a precious stone at the core. She followed it, jumped through the waves, following the song and the people who waved from the deck.

They were starting to fall off. Slowly, one by one, the voices were thinning in number until there was only one left. She followed the sound, the bond, and suddenly she found the people who had fallen off the ship, their bonds coming up from the dark…

No, the bonds weren't coming up, they were falling down from…

In front of her, rather than a ship, was suddenly a tiny whale.

_Laboon?_

Ruffy abruptly returned to herself. Before her was the whale, fifty years later, deathly silent.

"What happened?" Usopp asked somewhere, but Ruffy was already off the ground, running.

"Hey Ruffy! What's going on?!"

Laboon woke up and howled. Ruffy realized she wouldn't be able to jump straight to him, so she made a quick detour to her ship and grabbed the main mast, broke it off and used the sail to glide over to the whale who just started to turn around, forgetting everything, just seeking the one who had called him.

Ruffy landed on the whale's skin, fingers holding onto the mast so hard the wood was giving in. She lifted it over her head, spread her toes and ran towards the top of the whale's head. There was pain there, physical pain that would do as a distraction.

She ran even faster as the whale started to take off towards the open sea, towards Grand Line.

Finding the blood amongst the scars on Laboon's head Ruffy didn't hesitate to bury the main mast of her ship as deep as she could into it.

The whale flinched back and wailed at the new pain. Ruffy twisted the mast in the wound, digging deeper.

Turning towards the cliffs, Laboon lunched towards them, trying to crush the one who was trying to hurt him. Who was trying to stop him!

Ruffy saw the cliffs, her blazing eyes spying a deep crack and ran for it. Unfortunately for the whale, the collision buried Merry's mast even deeper, hitting a nerve under the thick skin. Laboon howled.

The straw hat jumped out of her hiding place, scraping her arms and cheek, grabbing a rock that had loosened, jumped and threw it at the whale's eye. Laboon saw it and twisted his head, hitting the girl, but also getting the rock in his eye.

She hit the lighthouse so hard the wall cracked.

"Ruffy! What the hell are you trying to do?!" Usopp demanded as he ran forward with Zoro and Sanji.

The captain ignored them and instead she shook herself, took in air and yelled at the half-blinded mammal.

"YOU _PROMISED_!"

Everything stilled.

Ruffy glared at the enormous animal, the eye that was turned to her closed and crying. She pulled at the necklace that felt like it was trying to strangle her.

"You heard! He's still trying to keep his promise! So you can't just abandon yours!"

"Ruffy? What's going on?" Nami asked.

"One of them is still alive. That's all you need, right?" Ruffy kept yelling at the whale who was still not turning to look at her. He wanted to go. He had heard that familiar voice call his name from somewhere dark and cold and lonely. He needed to go there.

Ruffy listened, followed the line of the bond and gritted her teeth. "He's still in Grand Line. If he hasn't come back, it's because something has stopped him. So I'll find him for you!"

Everybody was gaping, but Laboon finally opened his eye and looked at Ruffy. He let out a sad, questioning sound.

"I'll find him," Ruffy promised. "I'll bring him around the world and back to you. He can tell you everything he needs to say to you then! You can be proud of him then! I'll make sure; even if you don't have any faith left, I'll make him keep his promise!"

"What are you talking about girl?!" Crocus demanded.

"The pirates that left Laboon here," Ruffy hissed, pulling harder at the necklace. "They're dead. Most of them died here in this sea, but one of them is still alive. I found him. They're still connected. If he didn't remember the promise the bond would have gone nowhere, but I found him!"

The old man just stood there, dumbfounded. "But I hopped upon a ship to look for them. I searched. I…"

Ruffy glared at him, but it was in more pain than anger. "You _what_?!"

Crocus stood still. Could he have been wrong? Had he not searched hard enough? Had he been realistic, jumped to conclusions and given up? "There was a village where the inhabitants told me they'd seen their ship change course and head for Calm Belt."

"The ship?!" Ruffy demanded. "Just the ship?! The crew died in Grand Line! That one person is still here!"

"How can you be so sure?"

Laboon gave a short cry.

"Why are _you_ asking!?" Ruffy shouted in outrage at the whale. "It's _your bond_ I was following! And just now you were so hellbent on going to him I had to bury my mast in your head to stop you! Bakaaaaa!"

The whale lowered his head in shame.

Ruffy's crewmembers all just sighed.

"Let's dig out or mast and call it a day," Nami said with a hand on Ruffy's shoulder and a glance at the rising moon. There was still some light left in the west, but the sun was long gone.

"Nami-san is right," Sanji said and lit another cigarette. "It's been a really long day, we could all use some sleep and Ruffy can explain things in the morning."

* * *

Everyone helped dig out the mast. Laboon lay his head on the cliffs and allowed Crocus to drug him again so he wouldn't be overwhelmed by the pain. Once they finally got all the wood out, the mast so drenched with blood a dip in the sea didn't really help, so they tied some rocks to it, secured it to their ship and let it rest in the sea overnight.

Everyone went to sleep, except for Ruffy. She sat with Laboon, leaning against him, and trying to reconnect with the heart on the other side of the whale's bond. Unfortunately she couldn't find much. All she could really confirm was that he was alive, that he was alone, and that he always thought of Laboon, holding on to the promise with an iron grip despite his heart being so fragile. No location. Nothing to hint at where he could be. And once she left the whale here she would also leave this bond behind and thus lose her only guide to the other heart.

Sighing in defeat Ruffy stretched, lay on the ground and turned her mind off.

* * *

_"__Hey guys! Look, what's up with that whale? It keeps following us."_

_"__It must be lost."_

_He didn't really care at this point. He'd been lost for days, he was hungry and so terribly lonely even this ship would do as company. They were talking to him now, and there was something aboard that looked like him, so they must be friendly._

_Then all of a sudden the ship started singing. It sounded nothing like his mother and father. It was loud and fast and fun. It was such a surprise, and a pleasant one too. His people also sang, so this had to be his people!_

_"__Hey, Laboon."_

_That was his name now. Laboon. He liked it. It meant he was one in the pod now. And the ship made of wood was his mother. She protected him from the dangerous monsters that tried to eat him and sheltered him and sang to him with all of her other children. And he got to protect his new brothers too, because for some reason their little fins weren't very good for swimming. That's why mother was carrying them all the time. She's a good swimmer and always stayed above the waves to keep her children safe._

_But suddenly everything was quiet._

_"__Laboon, listen," one of his brothers started saying. The one who looked like him, who always sang so beautifully.  
_

_Laboon started prompting a song, the one they sang most often and that he had come to associate with happiness._

_"__No singing now. We're friends and all, but you're a whale and we are…"_

_Laboon cried louder, not about to listen to such words about differences that didn't matter. Everything else his brother tried to say, Laboon made sure he was bellowing loud enough so that he couldn't hear a single word. Then he made sure his brother was properly wet and dove under the ship to sulk._

_But the silence continued. Laboon was the only one singing, trying to prompt his new family to sing with him. But the brothers that had fed and sung to him walked away from mother's edges where Laboon could see them._

_He sunk under the waves, waiting for the singing to return. He would wait forever if he had to._

_Then something strange happened. His family went straight into a storm, sailed towards a mountain, and Laboon thought he would have to find somewhere to swim his brothers to because mother looked like she was about to go under._

_She didn't. She hit the edge of the mountain that scraped off a good chunk of her wood before she started climbing the mountain._

_He had to follow!_

* * *

_It was the currents that persuaded him. The sea here didn't taste like home at all. If he swam too far from the cliffs the currents were strong, and he barely managed to go back to his friends._

_"__Please stay here."_

_It hurt, but he had to give in. His friends weren't good swimmers, but they had protected him from monsters for a long time now._

_"__We'll come back. Just you wait. In two or three years, we'll come sailing down that mountain again! We're going to sail around the world and come back. Wait for us, Laboon!"_

_He watched them sail away. He heard their singing fade into the ocean._

_And he waited._

_A hand touched his head._

_Beside him was a small sailing boat, and aboard was that odd female. The one who had sung with him and showed him his friends._

_She looked tired, and hurt. There was something around her fins that looked heavy and painful._

_"__I understand," she said._

_Laboon blew water and her and went under the waves. Just what did she think she understood?_

_But she did understand. The ship she sat in had an empty harness tied to it and lifeless shadows floated far below._

_Laboon resurfaced and nudged the girl's hand in apology. But instead of placing it on his head, she pointed._

_Behind Laboon was the waterfall, the mountain and lighthouse. On the cliffs sat old Crocus._

_"__Stop hurting yourself, Laboon. Please. I won't be able to treat you forever."_

_Shame filled Laboon's heart. He had been busy waiting for his friends all this time, and here was old Crocus, hurting and crying at him, and Laboon was barely seeing him._

_He turned to the girl. She still looked tired, dirty and sad, hanging over the railing to the little boat, but she glanced behind her._

_There was a ship there with people waiting by the railing._

_Laboon hummed in sorrow and the girl placed her hand back on his head._

_They stayed there, waiting for people that weren't going to come back, neither of them strong enough to face the people that were alive just yet._

* * *

Ruffy awoke from a crick in the neck that put her in a bad mood. Then she froze, stopped breathing, blood running cold from the fact she was _awake_.

But the hat was on her head. The hat was good. The hat came after she had left Almen in that place and jumped off the Red Line. But Sun wasn't beside her. Beside her was…

Laboon.

And Merry was sleeping a little bit off the shore. Ruffy pulled at her bonds. Zoro, Nami and Usopp were all there, firm and solid.

But where was Sanji?

Worried, the straw hat captain got up and jogged over to her ship. Just as she was about to jump aboard, the hatch to the men's room opened and Sanji stepped up on deck, closing the hatch quietly behind him. He stood there with his shirt in hand and stretched, long sinew muscles trembling and jumping into place all over his arms and body. The wounds he'd received in the battle of the Baratie and the bruises Arlong had given him were all just shadows at this point. But Ruffy didn't care about any of that. She jumped aboard, startling Sanji, and hugged him tight, too happy he was still there to care about anything else.

"Woah! What? Ruffy? What in…? Did something happen?"

"I thought you were gone."

The blond stood still, uncertain, but then hesitatingly put his arms around Ruffy. "I'm… not going anywhere, Ruffy."

The girl just turned her head and pressed her ear against Sanji's bare chest. "I can always tell that Zoro, Nami and Usopp are still alive. But I haven't listened to your heart yet, so I can't tell if you're still there or not. I'm scared. I should listen to your heart now."

The other's arms held her tighter. "But you can't, right?"

Exactly, and that was the frustrating part. She could hear the man's heart, felt it beat against her cheek. But she couldn't dive in the way she had done with the others.

Actually… Ruffy started to listen. Underneath the sound of love towards Nami, food, beautiful women, food and every other woman, there was something that sounded like bars. It wasn't a cage, or maybe it was, Ruffy wasn't sure. What she did realize was that Sanji had locked his heart down. She wouldn't be able to listen to his heart even if she tried; he wouldn't let her.

"You need to… practice too," she mumbled. "I can only listen to your heart if you open it to me."

She stepped away, and was surprised by the hurry with which Sanji put his shirt on. For a man who didn't hide the way he admired Nami's body, his cheeks were surprisingly pink now.

"You caught me off guard, captain," the cook said when he caught Ruffy's stare, clearly embarrassed, and not being honest.

"You're not ashamed of your body," Ruffy stated, because she knew he wasn't, which made his hurry to cover up all the more confusing.

"No, of course not," the blond said and fastened the last button.

"Are you a virgin?"

Sanji stared at her, dismayed, and now the pink turned red. "No," he said slowly and was telling the truth.

"I've seen a lot of naked men before. You look good. Why would you be embarrassed?"

The blond raked a hand through his hair, scratching his neck. "You know what, I don't know. Something about morals or modesty? Or… just now, it felt like you were dressing me down, baring me."

"Oh," Ruffy said. "I see. But once I listen to your heart, I will bare myself to you, and nobody else can see. Then you don't need the armour anymore," she finished with a resolute nod, as if what she said was fact and nothing else. "So now you start with breakfast, I need to make sure Laboon really won't bang his stupid head against Red Line anymore."

With that Ruffy turned and went inside the ship. Sanji watched her leave. She was something, his captain. He couldn't tell what that something was yet, because that unnerving feeling of being exposed to her made him want to run away. Her expression when she'd run into his arms, her vulnerability made him want to hold her tight and never let go or fight whatever monster was scaring her until she wasn't scared anymore.

In the end, the cook just sighed. He was a part of this crew now, Ruffy was his captain, and all of them would want food soon. So taking the action he could take right now, Sanji went to the kitchen to get breakfast started.

* * *

Nami was the second to rise. She had slept like the dead, which wasn't really a surprise with everything that had happened the day before. Rogue town, Ruffy's execution, the storm, entering Grand Line. No wonder she hadn't even been dreaming.

Stepping out into the morning she stretched and breathed in the chilly sea air and the smell of fresh bread. Sanji seemed to be quite the early bird. Unlike their master sleeper Zoro who could snore for days if you let him be. So when the hatch opened and it was Usopp who stepped onto the deck Nami wasn't surprised at all.

She looked around. "Did Ruffy sleep in your room?"

"I take it she didn't seep with you either," Usopp sighed.

"No, she… didn't…"

Usopp looked up at that, seeing Nami stare towards Laboon with her mouth falling open.

Looking over, the liar mirrored her expression.

Ruffy was awake, like always, and she was climbing over Laboon's head like a spider with a bucket of paint in one hand and a large brush in her mouth.

"What's she doing?" Usopp asked.

"I don't even know anymore," Nami sighed. "Her way of thinking doesn't actually follow logic. Well, whatever. We need to get the main mast."

Nami walked over to the hatched and opened it.

"Oi, Zoro! Get your lazy bum up here."

Allowing the swordsman some privacy after that, Nami and Usopp started to pull the mast out of the water. Unfortunately all the blood hadn't gone out, so they would have to spend the better part of the day scrubbing it clean.

Zoro and Sanji joined them to haul the mast aboard, but the cook had to leave right away since he was still making breakfast.

"What's Ruffy doing?" Zoro asked tiredly as he found the girl running around splashing paint on Laboon's head.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Usopp answered with a hopeless shrug as he went to fetch a couple of buckets and cleaning materials.

"Hey guys. Breakfast's almost ready. Go wash your hands," Sanji called.

"Hai!" everyone answered.

They had to save some for Ruffy though because she was both blind and deaf to their calls and waves.

By midmorning, after Crocus had come out with his own toast, scrambled eggs and coffee to enjoy the morning, Ruffy finally came down, covered from head to toe with paint, and walked further away so she could see the result of her efforts; a lot of white with black lines, a yellow blob at the top with a red streak running through it.

"There!" she said with a firm nod. "That's the mark of my promise."

Everyone looked up. Laboon gave a questioning little sound.

"That's right! But if you keep being stupid and ram your head against Red Line again, the mark will go away, and my luck too, so I won't be able to find your friend."

The whale made a series of clicks.

"She understands what he's saying," Nami suddenly realized. "As in, actually understands, not just reading him."

"I wouldn't really call Ruffy human in the first place either, so it shouldn't come as a surprise," Usopp said. Because honestly, Ruffy speaking whale was the least crazy thing about her thus far.

Zoro hummed in agreement. Not even Sanji could argue. Not when Ruffy had defeated the king of East Blue after not eating for a week and then Arlong the very next day.

"Either way, we should get started on the mast and put it back up so we can actually start our journey," Nami said and clapped her hands.

On the shore, leaning back in a sunchair with the last of his coffee, Crocus was smiling.

"Is she the pirate we have waited for, Roger? For some reason, I get the feeling that fire of hers was lightened by you."

* * *

A/N; So this is the end of the first part. To my new readers; here's the format. I write this story in parts for navigation's sake. I will finish writing a whole part, independant on how many chapters it contains, and update each chapter weekly. Thus the time between the parts will be much longer, but this way at least there will be no cliffhangers that lasts for months because I can't come up with a good way to continue.

Thank you for your patience. Part 2 will hopefully be up before the end of the year :)

Love Mjus


	4. Part 1-4 Island Whale

Alright, my dear readers. This will be the last chapter of the years, which is what I really wanted to put out there for you all! I want to thank you for still following this crazy story, for sticking with me despite the slow updates. I want to wish you a merry christmas and a happy new years to each and every one of you my readers, and I wish I had some way to do it personally, but you can't have it all XD

Still, in the next part we're finally introducing more exciting elements! Look forward to it and part 3 of Grand Line is Paradice (and thank you to all of you who suggested the name ;) )

EDIT; so yeah, I did change my mind and put this into the first part. Sorry if there's any confusion.

* * *

_**Part 2; Island Whale  
**_

_**Chapter 4/4; Trust only in the Grand Line Compass**_

They were overdue, their weapons were gone, they were hungry, and whatever was left of their lives' supply of luck had just been used to take them back to the Twin Peak without the compass. Both of them had been seriously afraid there for a while. Now there was just the last little problem left to face before they could make it back as fast as they could and report back to the boss.

The only good thing about a week like this was that the next one could only be better. Mr 9 was nothing of not forcefully optimistic.

"I found them! Finally!"

Miss Wednesday, his partner since three years now, looked over, her blue-grey eyes sharp. "Are you sure it's them?"

"I am. See for yourself," Mr 9 said and handed her the binocular to grab the oar to steer their raft closer to the cliffs so they could go ashore.

"It's them," Miss Wednesday confirmed and sighed in obvious relief. "I can't believe I dropped the log pose. We're running so late. They'll send the Unluckies on our case soon."

As if he didn't know that. "Let's do a quick assault, surprise them, grab the log pose and be on our way within the minute. We can use your…"

A clicking sound filled the air.

Cursing, the duo jumped up, causing the raft to rock violently. It didn't matter because they were both trying to jump into the sea in time before the Unluckies; Mr 13 the otter and his partner Miss Friday the vulture, dropped the bomb on them.

Mr 9 grabbed the neck of his partner and threw her in first. But not fast enough. The bomb hit their raft and the man felt the burn against his back seconds before the sea embraced him.

* * *

Twin Peak were two rocky capes surrounding the entrance of the Grand Line. It wasn't much, but on one side stood a lighthouse. It had been there for a long time, beaten by weather and wind and rebuilt several times. Nothing grew here, but if you took a boat and sailed along the Red Line you could get to a cleave of sorts that was big enough to house a small forest. This the lighthouse keeper through the years had used as a garden, and this is where Crocus, the current keeper, grew all medical herbs he couldn't order, any wood he'd need for repairs on the lighthouse or the odd ship that needed it and that made a good impression on Crocus, and some crops to eat.

Today, Crocus had made a quick trip here to get some food. He did cast glances at the herbs though. He remembered he was almost out of sedatives for Laboon, but he actually doubted he would need it anymore. Not after the whale had been given new hope, even though Crocus wasn't too sure how true Ruffy's claims were.

Was it possible? Had he found nothing but a false rumour? Had he really been so wrong? Crocus kneeled down by a flower. If he wanted to make more sedatives he would need to pick it today. But it didn't matter if he was wrong or not. Crocus was way more worried what would happen if he died. If Ruffy failed to find the one she claimed was still alive and still within Grand Line, then what? And even if she did find him, whoever was still alive was an old man now. What if they'd made a life for themselves on some island, settled down and married and all that?

"Grand Line can't be trusted," Crocus muttered to himself. "People can't be trusted either."

Staring at the flower, Crocus stood, leaving it there to wither and grow seeds so that next season there would be even more of them. Because in the end, it might not matter. The only one rule of the pirate life was to live for the day and not for the future after all.

* * *

Sanji had taken over cleaning the main mast, since it wasn't as bad as they had thought, while Ruffy was thankfully helping Usopp pour his superglue over the broken halves of Merry's neck and head. He then circled her neck with a sturdy sheet of metal and nailed it in place so that Merry's head wouldn't come off again.

As he worked, Usopp couldn't help but think that now Merry resembled Ruffy, the way they both had these wide scars around their necks.

"I'm so sorry, Merry. We'll fix you right back up! Don't worry," Ruffy said as she hugged the ship's head.

"It would be better if we got a carpenter to help," Usopp muttered. "You can't always rely on me to fix her."

"But you're so resourceful, Usopp," Ruffy praised, still happily hugging Merry. "I didn't know what to do at all. Nami isn't good with wood, and if any of the others tried they'd probably just make it worse."

Way to stoke his ego. Usopp flushed with pride and stood straight, even when he realized this meant he'd stay the stand-in shipwright.

"Well, it doesn't look good for a captain to not be able to…"

"Hey Sanji, are you done with the mast already?" Ruffy waved to the cook when she noticed him straighten up.

"I'm done. I should also get lunch started, so you two finish up here."

"Okay!" Ruffy called back happily.

"Why me?! I'm not a goddamn carpenter!" Usopp protested.

"But you're the only one who can do it!" Ruffy said with a pair of wide doe-eyes that sent Usopp into a tired slump of submission.

It was a good thing that Ruffy was so strong, because Zoro was snoring against the railing and there was no way Usopp would have managed to get the mast back in place by himself. The girl captain also turned out to be surprisingly good with rope. While Usopp hurriedly tried to secure the mast by nailing another sheet of metal around it, excess of his superglue sipping out, Ruffy was repairing the rig, finishing before Usopp and then assisted him by handing him nails.

They were just done, Sanji coming out from the kitchen carrying large trays of what appeared to be the fish he bought in Rouge Town, when the air was sliced with a horrified shriek.

"Didn't that sound a lot like Nami?" Ruffy asked.

"It did," Usopp confirmed and jumped ashore with Sanji… actually, Sanji looked like he was twirling and dancing like a ballerina before them.

"What's the ruckus, Nami?" Ruffy asked.

"Nami-san! How may I assist you?! I come bringing food!" Sanji sang.

"The compass!" Nami cried. "The compass is broken! The needle is just spinning!"

Ruffy blinked, and then started laughing.

"Hey! Stop laughing! This is serious!" Usopp demanded, hitting his captain on the shoulder while Sanji unloaded the plates of food on the table.

"But!" Ruffy took a deep breath and rubbed her eye. "She's looking at the wrong compass."

"What do you mean, the wrong compass!" Nami shrieked, shaking the vital instrument, hoping it would stop spinning.

Just having returned for wherever he'd gone, coming over to see what the yelling was about, Crocus put his bag down in the shade.

"I do believe your captain knows more than you," the old man commented, looking seriously at Nami. "You're the navigator, right. Did you come here to die? Didn't I tell you before that logic and common sense has no value in this sea? Your compass isn't broken."

"So… it's magnetic fields?" Nami guessed, worry in her eyes. Because if Grand Line was laced with multiple magnetic fields then her compass was completely useless.

"Correct," Crocus nodded. "Each island in Grand Line are composed of varying density of magnetic minerals. The winds and currents are also completely unpredictable because of that."

"That's why I gave you the log pose!" Ruffy said happily, looking up from the food she was eying as if looking for something suspicious. Her expression changed into disgust at the memory. "I won it in Rouge Town, and I threw up so much. So you need to look at the right compass. The Grand Line one!"

"You gave me a Grand Line compass?" Nami asked. "When did you ever give me…?" she silenced.

"Most people wear it like a bracelet," Crocus said. "It's a glass ball with only a compass needle in it. It records the unique magnetic fields of Grand Line's islands and so points in the direction of the next island rather than north."

Nami was starting to look rather pale. She did remember Ruffy giving her something that matched the description, but she'd put it in her pocket, thinking it was just some knick-knack rather than the vital device she was now learning about. She'd had absolutely no idea Grand Line required a special compass. It did explain why so many people barely made it past the Twin Peaks though.

"Um… Ruffy. You didn't happen to win two of them, did you?" Nami asked, laughing nervously.

"Of course not! Those are really hard to find outside Grand Line, you know," the captain said around a mouthful of food. Then she suddenly looked straight at Nami, narrowing her eyes. "Why would you need two log poses?"

"I might have put it in my pocket…" Nami started, hand going to rub the back of her head. "And the jacket the pocket belonged to might have been thrown to the winds?"

It was Usopp who connected the dots first. "Wait, what you're saying is that we're dead if we set out without this log compass?! What the hell Nami! You're supposed to be the smart one!"

"Nami-san, you're so cute when you make mistakes," Sanji sighed dreamily.

Ruffy was looking rather displeased too, then reached into her pocket and picked out the log pose that had belonged to those two strangers they'd thrown overboard last night.

Unfortunately, Usopp didn't see this, as he'd turned on Sanji.

"Cute, my ass! A navigator is supposed to know these things! Now we're going to die because she's an _idiot_!"

"How dare you!"

Nami had thoroughly ignored the boys, happily reaching out for the log pose Ruffy was reluctantly handing her.

Ruffy hadn't paid much attention to Sanji and Usopp either, a little bit too miffed about the fact Nami had managed to throw away the hard-won log pose Ruffy had acquired in Rouge Town. Thus none of the girls saw Usopp come flying from Sanji's sudden kick. They both did see the glass ball of the log pose shatter when Usopp came flying in between them, and the compass needle fall to the ground, their only way to sail Grand Line lost and gone.

Usopp groaned and rubbed his head, not seeing Ruffy march up to him. Sanji tried a loving smile as he shrunk in Nami's looming shadow.

Both boys found themselves flying through the air towards the open sea with the girls crying something incoherent after them that were probably curses.

"_TWO_ LOG POSES!" Ruffy shrieked at her navigator. "HOW COULD YOU MANAGE TO BREAK _TWO_ LOG POSES BEFORE WE LEAVE THE TWIN PEAKS?!"

Nami turned teary eyes to Crocus, who was watching with a sense of amazement. Losing two log poses was a feat of the worst possible kind and shouldn't be anything to laugh about. So why the old man was fighting down bubbling laugher he wasn't really sure, but the image the girl made with that appropriate look of horror mixed with a speechless open mouth and the broken log pose in her trembling hands might have something to do with it.

"All right, calm down," he sighed around a smile. "You folks can have my log pose. I do owe you a favour after all you've done for Laboon."

"R-really?!" Nami cried, barely able to believe this kind of luck would be granted them.

She took the chance to silently wish for a mountain of gold while the luck was still present.

Ruffy however was not quite as ready to let Nami have it. "After losing one and breaking a second log pose?! Eat crap! Give it to me!"

"Hey! I'm the navigator!" Nami protested."

"TWO log poses!" Ruffy yelled in Nami's still flushed face, absolutely outraged. She couldn't help it. The memory of whatever had been in that bottle and how sick she'd been was still too fresh in the girl captain's memory to forgive her comrade for losing the log pose.

Nami, at least, had the decency to be ashamed. Well, the second log pose hadn't been her fault, but the first one definitely was. Because in hindsight, she should have questioned it. Grand Line was called the "pirate graveyard". Thousands upon thousands of pirates died on this sea every year and those who came back were merely shadows of the people they had been. Walking corpses, people called them, forever lost in the nightmare that was Grand Line. Nami really should have asked the question why it was so difficult to sail Grand Line. She'd just taken for granted that it was sea kings or stronger pirates that was the problem; not the sea itself.

Grand Line had killed all those millions of pirates, not the people or monsters that lived here.

"This time, I swear it to you, captain," the navigator spoke to the slightly shorter girl before her, sincerity and determination glowing like a fire in her heart. "I won't break or lose this log pose! We're going to sail to all the ends of the world, and I'm going to map it all."

The captain narrowed her eyes, but she stepped back. "If you do break it, _you'll_ be the one drinking that homebrew."

* * *

The water was everywhere, pulling her down and lifting her up and throwing her sideways. She fought the water, taking a gulp of precious air whenever she got the chance, swallowing cold mouthfuls of seawater despite her best efforts not to. The cliffs were right there. They had been right there all this time, but the sea was toying with her, teasing her with the safety of those solid rocks while rolling her around in its watery palm.

'I can't die,' she thought. 'I _can't_ die. Absolutely, I _will not_ die!'

A hand gripped her elbow, and suddenly she was pulled through the water towards the cliffs.

'Mr 9?'

Her partner pulled them both underwater where his extendable weapon had finally caught in the cleave of a rock. They were out of the current.

It felt like an old friend. The solidity of the land neither held nor pushed her away, but she clung to Mother Earth, taking greedy gulps of salty air and coughing up as much seawater as she could.

She heard someone break the surface of the water beside her, but didn't bother looking up, thinking it was just her partner.

But then there was another body climbing onto the dry land on her other side.

Turning that way, Miss Wednesday found her partner, breathing heavily before turning to see if she was okay.

Turning the other way, she was met by another two wet faces.

One of them was a lanky blond man who quickly shot out of the water and kneeled chivalrously in front of her.

"Allow me to be of assistance, beautiful Miss Wednesday."

She was a little stunned by the treatment, but she had to admit; it made her a little happy. So she smiled and accepted the hand that was as cold and wet as her own, but was still a firm and solid touch that she welcomed as much as the ground under her feet after spending too long in the water.

"Hey wait! I have a request!" Mr 9 called out as he had to help himself out of the sea.

* * *

Nami was well aware that Ruffy was still in a bit of a bad mood, and the thief actually couldn't blame her captain for it. So when Sanji and Usopp came back with two familiar strangers, Nami saw Ruffy's hackles rise, so the navigator stepped forward to take care of the issue, hoping it would give the captain the moments she needed to calm down.

"I recognize you. You're the people who tried to kill the whale," Nami opened.

"We do what we are ordered to do, and food is scarce on our island," the king said as he and his partner in crime kneeled down on the ground before Nami. "But that is not important. We appear to have lost our ship, and kindly request you take us with you to Whiskey Peak."

"Whisky Peak? What's that?" the thief asked slowly, making a grand show of not believing a word those people spoke.

"It's… the name of our town," the man said hesitatingly, but it was a statement, and Nami didn't hear any tell-tale call of "liar" from Ruffy, so that much was probably true.

"And you lost your ship?" Nami went on, still speaking slowly, discreetly checking the wrists of these people. She hadn't thought about it before, but she did recall Ruffy picking something up that these people had dropped, which was most likely the other log pose she'd offered to Nami before Sanji and Usopp broke it.

"This is Grand Line. The sea holds many dangers," the woman said gravely.

Stealing a glance at her captain, Nami found her staring at the two with a suspicious frown. Well, they all knew Ruffy had trust issues, but she was also unpredictable, and she seldom listened to a whole sentence.

Nami crouched down on her heels, a deceptive smile on her face, in front of the king who was doing most of the talking. This close up, he really did look like he could belong to Buggy's crew, with his bright carrot red hair and marks on his face. It was just the feminine suit and brass crown he wore that said he wasn't one of Buggy's men.

The female looked different but not better. Her hair was long and blue in colour, wearing cheap clothes that would only pass for stylish if you didn't know anything about fashion. But her skin looked perfect. Not that it mattered.

"Don't you think you're asking for a lot, Mr 9?" the thief said, her voice smooth and cold like marble. "We are pirates; kindness isn't in our nature, you know. And our captain has taken a liking to the whale you tried to kill."

"Who are you anyway?" Usopp growled, accepting the towel Sanji brought.

"I'm a king," the male said without missing a beat, just to flinch in pain when Nami pinched his cheek and both she and Ruffy called "Liar".

"We can't say!" the woman cried and fell forward. Nami thought the other was trying to bow in some manner, but looked highly unfamiliar with the motion and was instead doing a poor imitation of it. The king however was much more accustomed to the rite, his posture giving away the ease of someone who had been bowing down for all their life.

"We beg to the goodness of your hearts; take us home and we'll make sure to return the favour!"

"We really don't like all this secrecy but mystery is the motto of our organization!" the woman said and made sure to hide her face, as if Nami was going to be fooled by a trembling voice and shoulder. "If we say another word, we'll be killed for sure! Please, if there is any mercy in your hearts, help us home!"

Nami fought back a smirk as she stood; she loved this game. So she ignored the reminder from Crocus that these people couldn't be trusted and instead smiled apologetically as she held up the broken log pose.

"Well, you see, our log pose is broken. Would you still like to tag along?"

The duo looked up, and their forcefully humbled expressions were gone. They both jumped up.

"YOU BROKE IT?! YOU BUNCH OF WORTHLESS SCOUNDRELS, THAT WAS MINE!"

"How dare you play us for fools! We're crawling on our bare knees when you're just as stranded here as we are, you rats!" the woman cried.

Ruffy's face twitched, her jaw tensing.

Nami didn't notice and instead made a face as if she just remembered. "Oh, that's right. Crocus kindly let us have his log pose."

The duo was immediately on their knees again, faces to the ground to hide their expressions or humiliation and rage at having been played so easily. Their plea to "the goodness" in Nami's heart was spoken through gritted teeth.

Nami smiled widely in victory. These people were no less crooks than she was.

"Whiskey Peak isn't your home," Ruffy suddenly spoke.

The duo looked up. "What do you mean? Of course it is! It's where we live," Mr 9 protested. But it wasn't him Ruffy was looking at.

Miss Wednesday's mouth closed with a snap as her expression changed. Nami didn't know what it was, but the woman seemed frightened all of a sudden.

Out there, Laboon broke the surface and his voice was a light tune on the winds.

"Ah, we might as well take you with us. That's the direction we're headed anyway," Ruffy said, surprising everyone.

"Are you sure? You can't trust these backstabbers," Crocus said.

"I know that, both of them are lying. But it's fine, we have to start this journey somewhere anyway." Ruffy smiled happily. "And if we don't like it we'll just come back and do it again!"

"I see," Crocus grinned down at her, surprisingly joyously, as if in agreement.

The duo still kneeling on the ground stared at the straw-hat girl with some surprise before it turned into mirth. Mirth that ended in pain when Nami came down on them.

"Laugh at my captain again and you'll spend the voyage _swimming_."

* * *

They had lunch while Crocus placed his log pose in the position where the magnetic field corresponded with that of Whiskey Peak.

"It will only take a couple of hours to load. Make sure your ship is in the best state she can be."

"Oh yeah. Sanji-kun did you fix the helm?" Nami asked.

"Um, I'm afraid not, Nami-san."

"I have some glue left. I'll make sure to fix it," Usopp offered with a sigh. "This is going to be my job until we find a shipwright isn't it?"

"Probably," Sanji smiled, not sorry at all. Carpentry had never been his forte.

"Haven't Zoro been sleeping for a long time?" Ruffy asked.

"Just ignore him, Ruffy," Nami growled.

The navigator left her crew to it as she studied the map she'd stolen from Buggy. She wondered who had drawn it, and how accurate it was. She was going to have to fix it if it wasn't. But she realized it might be difficult. Crocus had stressed the fact that she couldn't trust anything other than the log pose. She couldn't trust the sun or the stars and never the sea. But Nami trusted her instincts. She was ready to start mapping Grand Line.

Their two freeloaders stayed out of the way, whispering together and sneering at the pirates. Well, Nami was going to kick both of them either off the ship or into action as soon as they took off.

Ruffy climbed the cliffs and started calling out, her voice strangely clear when it echoed between the rock formations. Not that Nami thought a lot about the sound of Ruffy's voice, but she noticed a difference now. The bird-like chirps Nami was used to sounded… bigger. But when Laboon started breaking the waves, way out there, heading towards Ruffy, Nami realized she knew why. She wondered if those animalistic traits of her captain meant she could talk to all animals, or just the intelligent ones…

The navigator left the thought there and returned to her maps.

"Hey, whale! I'm off soon to look for your friend," Ruffy said once Laboon was in front of her.

The mammal made a hopeful little sound.

"I don't know. You'll have to believe in me and believe in your friend, then I'll find him for sure." Ruffy looked down at the two liars they were bringing along. "Old flower guy has protected you for some time now. My nakama are protecting me too. So we should take care of ourselves and… allow them to love us."

It was quite a lot to ask. Ruffy knew that for herself, and by the tiny whine from the whale, she knew Laboon would have to work on that too. Rather than just doing whatever he wanted and not caring if Crocus was there or not, the whale would have to learn to turn to the old man. After all, those scars on his head weren't all from his persistent headbutting with Red Line.

"Hey Ruffy! We're ready to take off."

"Coming! I'll see you again, Laboon, and when we do, you'll be singing Bink's Sake with the one who taught you to sing!"

The promise made Laboon laugh happily, loud clicks that lit a warm glow of happiness in Crocus' heart.

"Captain Ruffy, thank you for this favour," the false king smiled at the girl.

"It's Captain _Rayla_ for you, mister!" Ruffy snarled at the man. "Only friends may call me Ruffy, and I don't like you!"

Stunned and fully aware that it was only thanks to this girl they were going to get home at all, Mr 9 backed off, watching the girl stride away after sniffing at his partner.

"The women on this ship seems rather testy, wouldn't you say, Miss Wednesday?"

While everyone were busy boarding the ship, Crocus was rubbing his beard as he searched his memory.

"Mugiwara," he called to the girl captain.

"Hm?"

"What's your full name?"

The teen tilted her head in confusion, then straightened as realization swept over her features. "Oh! I never said, right? I'm Monkey D. Rayla! But friends call me Ruffy! Thanks for having us, Flower-ossan*."

In the old man's heartbeat, Ruffy suddenly caught a connection between herself and someone she never wanted to see again. It was only the state of the connection itself that had Ruffy not lashing out in self-defence.

"I see," Crocus said around a nostalgic smile. Then he caught her expression and relaxed. "I'm just a lighthouse keeper. Nothing more and nothing less."

It was a sincere statement, so Ruffy nodded once, with a little bit of a frown on her mouth. "An _old_ lighthouse keeper," she said with a huff and turned to board her ship.

'Sharp,' Crocus thought with a smirk as the caravel started moving out, the crew gathering in the alt to wave him and Laboon goodbye.

"Fate sure has a twisted sense of humour."

Laboon made a questioning little sound, and Crocus sighed.

"Monkey D. Rayla was reported missing and possibly dead many years ago. I wonder he even knows she's alive." The old man grunted. "If they do, their family issues just got a lot more complicated."

* * *

*ossan= old man/gramps. Since English doesn't have a lot of variation in words to name people by their age, I have decided to use "ossan" from here on out.

**MERRY CHRISTMAS** and a **HAPPY NEW YEAR**


	5. Part 2-1 Pirate Graveyard

Hi there, dear readers in these trying time. I light a candle and pray you are all here and well with no other disease than boredom. I know that's what I'm down with, plus a touch of loneliness. I need a hug ;_; Even our king was out a couple days ago pleading the people to stay home during Easter. It has been decided that those of us who are healthy will participate in some chuch activities since this is such a grand holiday for us christians. It's just that we're about... six people rather than thirty like we usually are.

LET US NOT THINK ABOUT THIS FOR A FEW MINUTES! Here's the start of the next part and... yeah, it's part 2 instead of 3. Decided that little bridge really did belong with Island Whale.

I hope you'll enjoy! Stay safe!

* * *

_**Part 2; Pirate Graveyard**_

_**Chapter 1/4; There is no such thing as logic**_

They had set out from Twin Peak about three hours ago, and the weather had changed drastically. Gone was the sun and the relative warmth of the ever windy mountainside, replaced with winter, snow, and the occasional gust of spring happening.

Zoro still sat by the railing, snoring away like he was never going to wake up while Ruffy and Usopp were making snowmen around him. Sanji had begged Nami to share a jacket with their captain, unable to stand looking at the girl playing in the snow wearing only shorts, a tank top and sandals. While Nami was doubtful Ruffy would actually get sick, she still agreed and stuffed her captain into that pretty wine-red winter jacket she'd bought in Rouge Town. It was a little big on her, and her feet were two sizes smaller than Nami's so Ruffy kept to her sandals, despite Sanji's moaning about it.

Now Ruffy and Usopp were showing off their snowy creations. The captain's piece was pretty much a heap of snow with an indent where the neck was supposed to be, some paper that was probably meant to be a face, brooms as arms and a barrel for a hat. Ruffy proudly announced her creation as "The man who fell from the heavens; Master Snowman!"

Usopp cast one look at the snow figure, laughed and stepped aside to show his own "Queen of Snowland".

"Usopp, that's amazing!" Ruffy praised.

"Of course! My artistic skill…"

"Let's see who is stronger!" the captain cried and jumped behind her creation. Usopp's only warning was a call of "Snowman Rocket!" before one of the broom arms of Master Snowman came flying, effectively beheading Usopp's queen.

"HOW DARE YOU!" the boy cried and returned the favour by kicking off Master Snowman's head.

Inside the relative warmth of the kitchen, Nami sighed to herself, wondering how the two could be so energetic in the cold.

"Nami-san! How do you like my loving snow-shovelling?" Sanji asked from across the deck where he was busy throwing the quickly accumulating snow over the railing into the sea.

"Keep it up until the snowfall stops, Sanji-kun," the navigator called back as sweetly as she could.

"Your word is my command!"

Behind Nami, seated at the table rolled up in blankets, the duo Ruffy was gracious enough to allow to come along had the audacity to sit around and complain.

"This ship really is barely a step above a raft," the king said. "You should have had the mind to install a heater in this floating bark-boat."

"Get out and help shovelling instead of…!" Nami started yelling, but was startled when thunder suddenly rolled over them. "Lightning? When it snows? Shit, Crocus wasn't joking when he said logic doesn't apply here."

There was a haughty scoff from behind her. "You really don't know anything about Grand Line," the princess said. "Are we even going the right way? You haven't checked the log pose in a while."

Nami frowned, recognizing she was the underdog here since she couldn't deny she was on unfamiliar waters, and the fact that the weather was so messed up unsettled her more than she wanted to let on. "A while? What are you saying? I just…"

A terrified cry from the kitchen had Sanji rushing over. "Nami-san! What happened?!"

"This is insane!" Nami shouted and ran out. "Turn the ship 180 degrees right now!"

"Huh, why? Did we forget something?" Usopp wondered.

"Did the current take us?" Ruffy asked.

"No, we have…!" Nami started before her captain's words registered. "YES! The ship has turned around! We're completely off course! Even though there's barely any wind and the waves are calm."

Laugher from their freeloaders spiked Nami's rage.

"Are you even a navigator?" the princess asked. "You can't trust anything on this sea. The waves, the winds, clouds, sun and stars. All you can ever trust is where the log pose points."

Ruffy's navigator stomped over and forcefully threw and kicked the fake royalty out. "GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSES AND HELP OUT OR I'LL THROW YOU TO THE FISHES!" And she really hoped she left bruises because those two deserved them.

"Have the main sail catch the wind from starboard. Usopp, get the jib sail and Sanji man the rudder!" Nami started ordering the crew around, sending warning glares at the muttering king and princess, letting them know she hadn't been joking about throwing them overboard.

"Wait, the wind just changed!" Usopp called as he was on his way to the alt.

"What?"

Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday turned their faces and sighed contentedly. "The first breath of spring."

"Say what?!" Nami yelled again, but then realized that may be why there was thunder rolling above them; the warmth clashing with the cold.

"Keep an eye on the log pose, Nami!" Ruffy reminded from where she was pulling the main sail beside Mr 9.

"We turned the wrong way!?"

"The waves are getting higher!" Usopp shouted from the alt.

By this point Nami was ready to tear her hair out. The sea danced with Merry, making her turn this way and that every few seconds, forcing Nami to keep a constant eye on the log pose, and the sea wasn't giving them an easy ride. A fog came in, blinding them until it faded as suddenly as it appeared, allowing them just enough time to avoid a frontal collision with an iceberg, but not damage. Merry rocked and groaned as she scraped against the ice.

Ruffy grabbed a rope and leaned dangerously far out to see what had happened. "The iceberg made a hole! We're taking in water!"

"Hurry up and seal it!" Nami yelled.

"I'm on it!" Usopp called, running towards the stock room, passing by a snoring figure. "Hey Zoro! How the fuck can you be asleep at a time like this!"

Because he was. Zoro was sleeping like a baby, so completely oblivious of their predicament that Usopp would have loved to step on him if he hadn't had an emergency to take care of.

"The wind is too strong! The sails are tearing!" Miss Wednesday called.

"Help me raise them!" Ruffy ordered and ran up the rig.

"Roger!" Mr 9 said and undid the ties that kept the sail taunt while his partner followed the other girl.

The hours ticked by. Rain made way for hail followed by warm winds and thick fogs tailed with high waves and almost no wind until they were hit by storms that lasted for minutes but threw them wildly off course. Sanji broke off his duties for just long enough to make rice balls, ordering everyone to grab one as they ran by. Mr 9 grabbed one for his partner, downing his own as fast as he could so he could free Miss Wednesday's hands from pulling the sail taunt.

"This is unusually bad," she commented after swallowing.

"We would have died if we'd tried to go through this on our raft," Mr 9 agreed. "And we have thirty hours left before we reach Whiskey Peak.

"You're so optimistic," Miss Wednesday smiled before she hurried to catch the straw-hat girl when a gust of wind tried to abduct her.

* * *

Approximately forty-five hours later, Zoro yawned and stretched. He hadn't felt this well rested in ages and welcomed the feeling along with the warm sunlight.

"Ah, that was a really nice nap."

Looking up, Zoro was surprised to see all of his crewmates laying around in undignified heaps, as if they'd been bored out of their minds for days and thus allowed laziness to consume them.

"Hey, aren't you a bit too lazy? I know the weather is nice and all but are we even on the right course?"

If Nami had had any juice left in her, she would have murdered the swordsman on the spot. Usopp and Sanji would have helped her and Mr 9 and Miss Wednesday would have enjoyed the show.

Zoro was looking around for Ruffy when he spotted the two newcomers. "Why are you on our ship?"

"You noticed just now?!" Mr 9 yelled hoarsely, the fact that this guy had been fast asleep since before they left Twin Peak with the weather going from one bad mood to the next fuelling both rage and jealousy.

Ruffy turned around where she lay sprawled across Usopp's lap, forcing her sore arms to fold so she could rest her head on them.

"We're headed for their hometown," she explained with a sleepy smile.

"So we're giving them a ride?" Zoro asked, surprised. "Are we in their debt?"

"Are not," the captain sighed and closed her eyes. The weather had stabilized just ten minutes ago and she was determined to rest for as long as she could before something else decided to strike them. This was Grand Line after all.

Usopp appreciated Ruffy's warmth and might have showed it by stroking her back if he could move his arms. Or if his hands weren't raw and bloody from two days of pulling ropes and sealing leaks.

Zoro's gaze rested on his captain a moment longer before his eyes returned to the people who had tried to kill Laboon. He was man enough to realize the spike of anger he felt towards them was purely caused by a feeling of protectiveness of Ruffy. Not that she needed it, Ruffy had trust issues enough not to turn her back. But right now; sprawled across Usopp with her head resting on her arms and the sun hitting a patch of exposed skin on her lower back, Ruffy looked so defenceless Zoro couldn't help it.

"Hmm… don't you look like you're up to no good," the swordsman said with pleasant coldness as he sat on his heels before the duo. "What are your names?"

The both of them struggled to sit up and back away from the steely eyes glaring at them.

"Mr 9," the king said shakily.

"I'm Miss Wednesday," the woman said. She tried to smile, but even those muscles felt tired, so whatever face she managed to make was probably not so pretty.

The swordsman sat down and rubbed his chin, smirk in place. "Oh yeah…" he said slowly. "There is a bell ringing somewhere, hearing those names. Have I heard them before?"

The princess was not smiling anymore.

Zoro didn't notice Nami struggling to her feet, forcing her aching body forward, fuelled by fury and stress. She came down on Zoro fist first.

"How dare you!" the navigator snarled, two days of yelling orders making her voice gravelly. "All that and you just kept right on snoring."

"Huh?" Zoro said, glaring at the younger girl, only for Nami to release all stress on the top of Zoro's head.

"Stay alert," she ordered the crew once she was satisfied. "We don't know what might hit us next. I have finally understood how terrifying this ocean really is! Why they call it the Pirate Graveyard and why they call it Grand Line! My knowledge and experiences as a navigator is completely useless here!"

Usopp managed to lift his head. "And that's good?" he asked, because Nami sounded like she was bragging.

"Don't worry, I can manage this too. As proof, look over there."

Usopp was not going to move, not with Ruffy comfortably resting across his legs, but he could lean his head back over the railing and see what Nami was referring to.

Sticking up over the surface of the sea was an island. The shape was still blurry, hidden in part by mist.

"If nothing else happens, we'll reach shore before sunset," Nami said.

"Good, I'll sleep until then," Usopp decided and closed his eyes.

Nami looked at him for a second. Then she closed her eyes too, falling asleep while still standing, but luckily landing on Sanji.

The cook had already been asleep, and Nami landing on him was a bit of a rude awakening. He certainly wouldn't move though, not with Nami willingly on top of him, no matter how uncomfortably her head was resting on his collarbone.

Mr 9 and Miss Wednesday had also spotted their island, sighed with relief and promptly fallen asleep too.

Zoro looked around at them all, puzzled. "What did I miss?" he asked.

"You've slept for two days, Zoro," Ruffy reprimanded him huffily. "We couldn't. There were storms and stuff. You keep an eye on that island now and make sure we get there. Wake us up if something happens you can't handle yourself."

"You're going to sleep too?" the swordsman asked, trying to hide his surprise.

"Maybe." She sat and curled up against Usopp, head tucked under his chin, ear over his heart.

* * *

_The sea didn't change. No matter what time of year or day, no matter what happened in anybody's life, the sea never changed. Sometimes he hated it. But it was just water in the end._

_He started throwing rocks at it._

_"__Usopp?"_

_The boy looked up._

_Ruffy stood on the rocky beach, the chains around her falling into the water that went from dark blue and grey to bloody red and black._

_Something pulled at one of the chains, and Ruffy tugged back._

_"__Hey, calm down," Usopp urged._

_"__You're homesick," his captain said, expression pinched and eyes on the chain that was pulling at her._

_Flickers of flames started dancing with the red waves, the shadows growing darker and sharper in contrast._

_Usopp saw the shadows take the shape of a small person. Or maybe two? No, there were multiple of them gathering under the waves. The flames encased them._

_"__Homesick is bad," Ruffy said, and now all the chains were tugging her towards the sea and the flames._

_For a moment, Usopp just watched. He knew what he saw, felt it in his heart, and it saddened him._

_"__You're right, homesick is probably bad if the people you miss aren't there."_

_He looked over his shoulder. He saw Piiman and Ninjin wave at him while Tamanegi came running from the other side, yelling something about danger. He saw Kaya leaning out from her open window, the wind playing with her hair while the sun kissed her pale face. The villagers waited with their hands on door handles, holding brooms to have their daily stress relief and exercise by chasing Usopp around. It was safe and warm and boring. But he had been happy, he supposed. Not exactly content; his heart chasing any kind of thrill and wishing for the same grand adventures he read about in his books._

_Ruffy's cold hands clasped his tightly, the chains still pulling her limbs, but he didn't turn to look at her. He didn't want to see what kind of state she was in right now, as she fought against memories of her home that evidently hurt._

_"__I didn't want to leave home." Ruffy said with a small voice._

_"__I did. I don't regret leaving."_

_The hands holding his relaxed and something cold and wet and solid bumped into his neck. Ruffy's body pressed into his back when the chains stopped pulling. The sea was blue again._

_"__I really love you, my brother Usopp."_

* * *

"Hey! Could you all wake up?!"

Ruffy jolted and Usopp yowled in pain.

"Ruffy, what the hell! You bit me!"

The captain had already jumped off her brother, yelled at Nami and Sanji and started pulling at the sail opposite of Zoro. The swordsman was wet and his eyes were wild with stress as if he really had been having trouble handling Merry while everybody slept off the worst of the tiredness from their first leg of journey.

They were so close to the island now and the sun had already set. From behind them the moonlight was bathing the giant cacti in a silvery white light.

"So that's Whiskey Peak," Ruffy said, mostly to herself, her eyes locked on the cacti.

"Did it really take us two days to get here?" Zoro asked with bewilderment.

The king and princess were just starting to look up and orienting themselves. The princess noticed the island first.

"We made it," she said, shaking he partner.

"Thank goodness," he sighed.

The two looked at each other, and suddenly they both stood on the railing.

"Allow us the liberty of dropping off here," the king said.

"If it is fate's will, we shall meet again," the princess nodded with smug features.

"Bye-bye baby."

Zoro, Ruffy and Usopp stared when the crazy pair dove into the waves. Nami rubbed her tired face, having awoken just as the duo got on the railing. "What just happened?" she asked, voice slurred.

"Those two jumped overboard and are now swimming towards the shore," Ruffy reported.

"…okay. I don't care. Are we near land?"

Usopp was rubbing the sore mark of Ruffy's teeth. "Yeah, we've arrived," he answered.

Shaking the sleep from her head Nami gave Sanji's head a hard pat and stood. The cook followed her example and stretched his long body as far as he could, yawning widely.

"Food?" he asked.

"After we've docked," Nami decided. "There's a river right up ahead. We can anchor inland, and then sleep for the rest of the night."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Usopp suddenly shouted. "There aren't any monsters on the island, right? There's so much mist around! What if we're attacked?"

"Then we fight," Ruffy replied happily.

"What! Why? No! We should run away!"

Nami sighed. "Idiot, we have to stay here for as long as it takes."

"As long as it takes?" Usopp repeated, blinking.

The navigator held up her left arm, pointing at the log pose. "The time it takes for this to register the magnetic field differs from island to island, and we can't move on before that because the needle will keep pointing towards Whiskey Peak."

"Oh, oh no. Guys, this is terrible. I think I've come down with Can't-Enter-Islands disease!"

"This is Grand Line!" Ruffy yelled at them, shivering and eyes blown wide with excitement. "There is no such thing as logic here. That's what makes it so great!"

Zoro frowned at his captain, reminded of a couple questions he'd had for a while now but never had the opportunity to ask.

"Hey. Ruffy, have you been to Grand Line before?"

"Yup, when I travelled with Sun," she answered happily.

Zoro nodded, because that made a lot of sense to him.

This was the first time both Usopp and Nami had even had the notion.

Sanji looked lost. Since he was the last man to join the crew there were obviously a lot of things he wouldn't know, but the fact that Ruffy had been to Grand Line he had figured out from the fact she was familiar with Hawkeye.

Sanji hadn't asked for confirmation though, mostly because he didn't want to open himself for questions.

Nami was torn between wanting to question Ruffy further and the need to steer the ship into the river they were already straying away from.

"Let's discuss this later. Usopp, grab the helm, the rest of you keep the sail pulled tight and prepare for fight or flight!"

Ruffy cast another glance at the cactuses and the gravestones that had looked like thorns from a distance. Whatever lay in wait for them, it was probably not going to give them a warm welcome.


	6. Part 2-2 Pirate Graveyard

_**Part 2; Pirate Graveyard**_

_**Chapter 2/4; Baroque works**_

Cheers filled the air along with party pops and confetti. Igarappoi stood on the shore, tall and proud, treasured saxophone in hand, awaiting the pirates with an easy smile and a warm welcome. It was just another day at Whiskey Peak. Another crew of pirates.

Only two things were remarkable about them; they were only five. Their captain was recognizable from her poster, which had stood out due to the price money. But the girl was a lot smaller and younger than the image had suggested.

But her eyes were guarded.

"Welcome to our town!" Igarappoi greeted the pirates who looked equal parts excited and suspicious as they came ashore. "We welcome you, brave adventurers. Would you like liquor? We have oceans worth."

He managed to say all this with his voice only breaking once. Growing up in a dessert land, the mayor had swallowed more sand than food as a child, which reflected on his voice.

"I hope it's good liquor! I can still taste that godawful homebrew I had in Rouge Town," the pirate captain said, wrinkling her nose. Igarappoi wasn't certain if the girl was trying to look intimidating or just annoyed. Either way, it was more cute than anything else.

"Our whiskey is the smoothest in Grand Line!" Igarappoi promised. "Or would you prefer it smoky? We have a thousand barrels of different kinds to satisfy you."

"Liar," the girl said, and it was her easy tone, the certainty that she was right, that almost had the mayor blow his cover. Almost.

"I offer you to see for yourself then! Tonight we fhersh…" Igarappoi cleared his voice, tuned it, and tried again. "Tonight we feast everyone!"

A tanned boy with a long nose grabbed his captain around the shoulders with his other arm flung around a smartly dressed blond man, both of them happy and eager to join the celebration. The girl captain seemed to just go with the flow. The people behind Igarappoi hurriedly swept them up, asking well-practiced questions to judge their character, what perked their interest. They were all good actors.

Another woman of the pirate crew, this one decidedly prettier and better shaped than her captain. "Excuse me, but how long does it take for the log pose to adapt?"

"The log?" Igarappoi repeated, making sure his face showed mild disappointment before he broke into a wide grin, put an arm around her shoulder and turned towards the house where his folk were setting up tables and drinks, starting up grills and carrying out meat and vegetables. "Let's not think about such boring things tonight. It's a celebration, you need it after the journey you've just shurr…" he cleared and tuned his voice again. "You've just survived the first stretch of Grand Line. Take this time to unwind!"

* * *

Miss All-Sunday travelled silently in the shadow of Mr 5 and Miss Valentine. Or rather, trying to keep her own shadow from touching their ship, since she had the sun behind her. She longed quietly for the comforting darkness to sweep across the sky. Night-time night had always been her favourite time; when fewer people were out and about, when she could relax some of that constant tension in her muscles that prompted her to always be on guard, always on the watch. Even now; with the highest position in Baroque Works crime syndicate a woman could achieve, she was constantly alert. Constantly hiding.

Bunch, the turtle she was riding, slowed and turned slightly from his course in the wake of her boss' subordinates. Miss All-Sunday didn't care to reprimand him; the turtle knew better how the sea moved than she ever would. Sure enough; the small boat in front of them rocked dangerously while the turtle used his powerful paddles to compensate the movement and rock his passenger as little as possible.

Miss All-Sunday sighed, bored and impatient. It's not like her dream had ever been easy to chase. It took so much patience, so many lies and so many risks for almost no reward. She didn't even hold much hope about this one lead she had. But she had to have hope. She had to live. And she had to go through infuriatingly boring tasks like this to keep the boss's paranoia down.

But she did have a small hand to play against the boss for giggles. The boss liked people dead, and it brought Miss All-Sunday a thrilling world of amusement to "lose" a couple of targets. Because the boss couldn't kill her. Not yet. She was the only one in the world who couldn't be so easily replaced. So she had been playing with one of the targets. A crack in the boss's defences he was eager to fix, despite it being little more than an itch.

Bunch made a little sound as the island with its giant cacti-shaped graveyards started rising from the sea.

* * *

Most of the time, pirates who arrived at Whiskey Peak were drained and it rarely took more than a couple hours for the weariness and alcohol to put them to sleep. This crew though, only three men and two women strong, must have had an easy ride because the party was still going five hours later. They were all helping themselves to food and mead and liquor, and Igarappoi was starting to worry about their booze.

Only one of the pirates was properly drunk. He stood on a table, entertaining a group people of varying ages. Most of what the boy said was a lie, but he was invested in his tales and was interesting enough that at least his audience weren't sneaking glances at Igarappoi asking when they could kill the story-teller.

The blond teen was seated in a crowd of women who were genuinely enjoying themselves. He stood out, that boy. Fitted in dress-pants and a blue shirt with his tie and blazer hung neatly over the back of a chair. The mayor had to wonder why this man was a pirate when his clothes and the way he carried himself seemed to hint at nobility. Not that anybody cared about such a detail. The blond treated the ladies well though, which was a happy surprise for all involved. The women of this village were no strangers to tactless men whose hands kept wandering to places with or without their consent. Now they were giggling and blushing at praise and compliments and passionate poetry. Some were even putting on a show of throwing with their hair and opening their clothes a little just to get showered with enthusiastic worship.

One of the girls turned to Igarappoi and mouthed "can I keep him?". He laughed but shook his head negative.

At another table the swordsman and the navigator were immersed in drinking games. That one was a lot more typical to the occasion. Actually, those two were supposed to have gone down hours ago, but they were both still downing mug after mug with mead and rum. They were starting to waver now, so hopefully they would all just fall down like toy soldiers any minute.

The captain was the most hard to please. She ate very little; just fruit really, and she seemed to prefer to watch rather than participate in the celebrating. Her face was relaxed, but the sharpness in her golden brown eyes made Igarappoi's skin crawl. His only consolation was that the girl with the straw-hat wasn't trying to raise a fuss even if she suspected anything.

Monkey D. Ruffy. Igarappoi knew the name from her poster, and he was sure he'd heard the name mentioned somewhere else as well, but hadn't been able to pinpoint it yet.

"You shouldn't distance yourself!" the mayor shouted at her, pretending to be drunk and waved a bottle of rum that he didn't really want to share. "Think you can beat me in a drinking game?!"

"I can," the girl said, like that was a fact.

"Then here. Bring out the shot-glasses!"

Cheers filled the air, disrupting a story the boy with the long nose was telling in the middle of the room.

"No need!" the captain said, and she was smiling so confidently her eyes seemed like they were on fire. "I don't bother with shots. Take me down with a whole bottle!"

Igarappoi stuttered in his drunk performance to stare at the too small girl. Well, she was worth thirty million, so she probably wasn't all that weak, definitely had a devil fruit to her name even though his people hadn't been able to find any reports on which power she hosted. But draining a whole bottle? Like a shot? Was she asking to die?

It would solve that problem though, even though Igarappoi wasn't about to fight fair in a suicide-challenge.

He caught the eye of one of the people dressed as a cook. "Bring me full bottles of our best rum!"

"Roger!"

"I have been drinking from this one," Igarappoi said to the girl and placed his half-full bottle in the corner of a window, thankful he would be able to enjoy the smooth, spiced goodness of it for a little while longer. Alabasta's cactus rum was too hard to get your hands on outside the country itself.

The cook returned with four bottles and handed one each to the mayor and the pirate captain.

"The one left standing wins," the girl said as she popped the cap off with her thumb.

"You're on," Igarappoi agreed and used his ring to open his own bottle of non-alcoholic brew.

Monkey D. Ruffy stood with her feet apart, pulled her shoulders back and chest out and turned the bottle upside down in her mouth.

Igarappoi hurried to mimic her, but couldn't swallow more than a handful of times before he had to lower the bottle to breathe.

The girl was still swallowing, eyes closed and the liquid bubbling inside the glass container, quickly drying up. Igarappoi tipped his own drink back, hoping to not make a fool of himself like this.

"Ah, finally!"

The mayor stopped drinking to look at the pirate. She was holding her bottle upside down beside her, showing how she'd finished it, and was drying her chin. She smiled brightly at Igarappoi.

"I've been trying to wash out the taste of God's sick piss brew since leaving Rouge Town. And I won! You didn't finish yours!"

Everyone who had turned to watch stared at the girl, ready for when she fell over. She hiccupped once, smiled at Igarappoi and her eyes were glazed over.

"I don't like you," she said and swayed a little.

Any moment now she would drop dead from alcohol poisoning. Or at the very least fall unconscious.

"You heart's all sneaky. Hair full o guns. Why all 'em gravestones? Cacsus graveyard."

"I challenge you too!" the cook said and held out another bottle to the girl.

"Another? Okay, I've had two before, when my opponent also survived the first one. I'm still alive."

She'd done this before? Her opponent had once "survived too"? So she knew this could and probably would kill her? Igarappoi had a moment of questioning the world that pitted a child against _anyone_ in drinking games until one of them died.

How was her liver doing?

"I'm fine," the girl drawled, waving an unsteady hand at them all, popping the cap off the bottle with the other.

So they all must have made strange faces. Igarappoi shook his head to clear it.

"Well then, let's survive another night," Ruffy continued with a soul-deep sigh, broken with a hiccup. "Aki always said to f-fight. I promise to Sun I live till…"

The pirate stopped talking, scrunching her face up in confusion. The man who was challenging her popped his flask open, but the sound didn't seem to reach Ruffy.

"The alcohol's catching up," someone said.

"Girl, maybe you've had enough," Igarappoi said and reached out a hand.

Her eyes widened, went from brown to gold in a flash and she straightened with a face that tried to hide true fear under a mask of determination.

"The one left standing wins!" she cried, and then she straightened, leaned her head back and Igarappoi watched the liquid bubble as it disappeared down the pirate's throat.

The cook hurried to copy her.

From his place on the couch Zoro was keeping an eye on everyone. He still felt well-rested, which he was happy about. He'd caught sight of a tattoo he guessed the villagers had in common. Most of them kept it from view, but there was one person in this room who had it on full display; a winged skull and crossed fencing swords over the letters; B W. Zoro had caught it peeking out from under skirts and pants and sleeves. It stirred a memory. Some people had come to East Blue looking for him, because he was infamous as a bounty hunter no matter how much he denied that fact.

Those idiots had not been as good at persuasion as Ruffy.

Usopp went down with a happy sigh, down for the night, and Zoro turned to watch his captain.

The sight of Ruffy turning a bottle upside down in her throat had the swordsman jumping up in fright. Was she trying to kill herself?

In front of Ruffy another man hurried to imitate the pirate captain, and he only managed three or four gulps before he fell backwards. Some of his friends rushed forward to make sure the guy was still alive. Ruffy still stood.

She lifted the bottle from her face, the last drop falling on her tongue before Zoro and anyone else who's watched ducked for the flying flask that made a funny sound when it hit Sanji square in the forehead. The most amazing thing was that the bottle didn't break, although it effectively knocked Sanji out cold.

Ruffy hiccupped. "I. Won." She tried to focus on the people in front of her. "I won, right?"

"You won, captain, with a landslide. And that's it for your adventures today. Sleep," Zoro said and picked the girl up with one arm under her bum. Her lithe body easily fit against him with her head on his shoulder.

The girl just heaved a deep sigh and obeyed.

"She's still alive?" asked the man with the enormous curls, the mayor if Zoro remembered correctly. He looked quite a lot more worried than the swordsman would have thought of a bounty hunter. On the other hand, Ruffy was the one with the bounty, and the government wouldn't pay the full price if the criminal was dead.

"She'll be fine," Zoro ensured them and went back to his place.

"What happened?" Nami asked from where she was still drinking, against a nun.

"Ruffy got drunk and fell asleep," Zoro said and placed said girl on the sofa.

That had the navigator throw her head back and laugh until she cried, then suddenly got serious. "Sleep sounds good," she said, sat down by a table and promptly started snoring in that uncomfortable position.

"You're right," Zoro decided to play along and sat down too, beside the sofa, resting his head against Ruffy's stomach. Her hand found Zoro's neckline and pulled sleepily at his shirt.

The party quickly stopped all around them, way too fast for this to have been anything but a show.

"Sweet dreams, you mad adventurers," the mayor said around a sigh.

Zoro stayed still, pretending to sleep as he listened to grumbles and mumbles all around him, waiting for an opening. This would be great. His wounds were healed up and he had longed for a chance to test out his new swords.

_"__A waste if you ask me."_

Mihawk's voice again. A warning.

Zoro focused on his breathing, keeping it even as his senses hitched at the fact this room held his crewmates and his captain. They were all in here, asleep and vulnerable in a town filled with bounty hunters.

He couldn't get cocky. He had to lead the fight away.

Looking up at Ruffy's face, Zoro almost didn't want to leave. Her eyebrow was twitching and jaws chewing, biting the cushions of the sofa. There were still people in the room, but not in their direct surroundings, so Zoro carefully raised on his knees and pressed his lips against Ruffy's ear.

"I'll protect you, so sleep tight. May your dreams be good," he breathed.

* * *

_Aki was gone. She was dead. The stew was Aki. The cooks had killed Aki and fed her to them and Ruffy was throwing up and vomiting and her stomach was a hole and the tears wouldn't stop. She couldn't eat or sleep. Her hands were always shaking._

* * *

"Hey now, let my friends sleep. They've had a rough few days," said Zoro from where he sat on top of the highest building in the area. He had now successfully drawn all attention to himself, and he thought he had a good way to keep it that way.

"A nest of bounty hunters, sitting here like spiders, gathering up pirates high on the glee they've entered Grand Line."

The earlier so friendly faces shed their masks, revealing hardened men and women pulling out their weapons of choice.

"I estimate there's about a hundred of you," Zoro drawled, eyes flying over the people below. "Good enough. I'll be your opponent, dear Baroque Works."

That got attention. Of course it did. For these people, the organization they belonged to, secrecy was everything.

"How do you know that name!?" someone shouted.

"I was scouted by some of your people once," he offered as an explanation. "An organization where you know nothing about anyone or who gives orders. Blind obedience isn't my thing."

* * *

_"__Hey! The lord is here with an instant order."_

_"__I'll be right there."_

_"__No, it's not food-related. The lord's son is in trouble. We're to gather up whatever don't need and hand them over."_

* * *

Yubashiri, Snow Leap, was good and light and deadly. She sat well in Zoro's hand, with the only flaw of being lighter than Kuina's sword Wado. It was just something he had to get used to and just try not to let the lightness of Yubashiri bring him off balance.

It didn't matter. The whole town, children and elderly included, were all coming after him.

* * *

_The cage was half of the room, but that wasn't the problem. The chains had been taken off as they entered this place. The show-cage. Nobody said it. There were no words at all. Because the chains were gone. There was only one fate left. Only one reason they were here._

_Someone was pacing on the other side of the bars._

_"__Are you trying to humiliate me? How does any of these things meet my requirements?"_

_"__They don't, son. This mess is your own fault. Let this be a lesson in what happens when you're goaded into accepting bets. Be grateful I managed to get so many for you to select from."_

* * *

Sandai Kitetsu, the third demon-steel, cut through stone. Zoro wasn't prepared for that. Had only planned to block, but the kitetsu had cut.

"I can see you making a lot of trouble for me," Zoro said to the sword, both impressed by the sword's sharpness and aware she would turn on him if he ever did anything by halves. But the thought made him smirk. "Just like your grandmother."

* * *

_There was no way out. Survival instincts glittered under layers of fear. They hadn't received orders yet. There was no need. There was only one way to interpret the discussion going on outside the bars._

_Her whole body shook. Aki was dead. She had died so that she could live on in Ruffy's heart._

_The chairs on the other side squeaked softly. Aki was in her heart._

_The young lord's voice was bored. "The one left standing wins."_

_Aki had to live._

* * *

In a dark room on Whiskey Peak, driven by survival instincts, the sleep-walker crawled out of the building on all four, her golden eyes wide open in her sleep.


	7. Part 2-3 Pirate Graveyard

I'm so lucky! The weather is really nice now, so for my b-day (the 21st), I'll be hosting a barbeque party where everyone who want to come brings their own meat. That way I'll save a lot of money and everyone will have something cooked with them back home to enjoy another day!

Enough about me. You all stay safe! Wash your hands and enjoy the fact that even though we're suffering right now, the earth is feeling better. Apparently the earth looks cleaner even from space now that we're not driving as much... pros and cons.

Please enjoy this story. I hope it will give you a little bit of joy if you're feeling under the weather.

* * *

_**Part 2; Pirate Graveyard**_

_**Chapter 3/4; The monster within**_

Fighting people not used to a proper fight was turning out to be embarrassing. Zoro barely wanted to call it a fight at all, not only because he was only using one sword at a time. The bounty hunters were so uncoordinated they were killing each other as much as Zoro was killing them. Except for the children. Those he just knocked out along with their parents or guardians. Zoro was silently grateful that some people actually aborted their mission to kill him to take those children away. They were still humans, no matter where life had taken them.

Zoro had only one wound thus far. He'd been surprised by a muscular woman who was so calm Zoro had failed to sense her. She didn't emit any bloodthirst or joy for what she was doing when she grabbed Zoro by the throat and punched his head. If she'd been aiming to kill him, Zoro wasn't sure. It felt more like she had tried to knock him out. So he took pity on her; grabbed her head and pressed against the sides of her skull until she fainted.

He also thought he heard them say something about Ruffy's bounty actually being Zoro's. It stoked his ego a little.

The only person he had any kind of trouble with was the man with the curls. Zoro didn't know where those shotguns were hiding, but those bullets exploded and Zoro had been grazed by three of those. He needed some element of surprise.

The king, who had just a minute ago jumped off the roof along with his princess (Zoro was still not sure how that had happened) suddenly caught Zoro around the arm with his weapon. A baseball bat made of metal that clearly hid a roll of wire. A wire he also wrapped around his own arm so Zoro wouldn't come up with the bright idea to tear the weapon out of his hands.

"Get him, Mr 8!" the king shouted.

The man with the curls prepared to fire.

Chance. Zoro pulled the king towards him and into the way of the bullets. The princess was sitting on a duck that couldn't tell an apple from its ass, so Zoro put all his strength into tearing off the wire and using the momentum to throw the king into the man with the curls. It was followed by a satisfactory explosion.

He turned to the princess. She had an interesting expression now that she was alone against him. She wasn't stronger than Zoro, they both knew that, so if she truly wanted to defeat him, she would need to be smarter than that.

Then there was suddenly this cold shiver running through Zoro. Something was wrong.

He gripped his katana and got ready to attack, but the princess in front of him wasn't the cause. Her eyes widened and she hurried to arm herself with something she strapped on her pinkie. Her giant duck stood behind her, indecisive but apparently unwilling to leave his mistress.

No, this sense of dread was not caused by them.

Zoro turned, trying to locate where this sense of creeping danger was coming from.

The princess, who had the name of one of the days of the week but Zoro couldn't be bothered to remember, attacked with a cry.

The swordsman grabbed her mouth and forced her down. "Shut the hell up! Something's not right," he hissed at her.

"How pathetic."

Zoro turned. There stood a black man in a red trench coat and a white woman in a short, yellow dress with an umbrella over her shoulder, despite it being the middle of the night and not raining.

"Mr 5," the princess acknowledged. "Good, you've come to help. This man has-"

"Help?"

Zoro lost interest. The newcomers didn't seem concerned with him, so he distanced himself. The dread was still filling him to the brim. He had to go check on his crewmates.

Miss Wednesday was relieved when the swordsman left. Whatever had spooked him just now didn't matter.

"You honestly believe we would come all the way out here to help you with some pesky swordsman?" Miss Valentine cackled like a hyena. "You must all have gotten soft and fat out here."

"Boss' words were, 'My secret has been leaked'," Mr 5 went on, his voice arrogant and full of contempt. "Of course, I don't know what this secret is. Our organization's creed is "secrecy". You know that, don't you?"

Miss Wednesday stayed quiet. She knew where this was going, had been prepared for it since the beginning, but now was really bad timing.

She'd infiltrated this organization only to have one fact imprinted early on. It is unforgivable for the boss's identity to be known. She wanted to ask why, but Miss Wednesday already knew the answer. At least that answer. What she couldn't understand was why so many people could agree to blindly obey an invisible leader. Why was it that so many happily cast their name and identities away. This existence was no different from real life.

"We investigated," Miss Valentine giggled. "The mole is a certain kingdom's…"

"IGARAPPA!"

Everyone flinched when there was suddenly an attack from the roof.

"Igaram!" the princess yelled.

"Please run away!" he called back beside a confused Mr 9.

* * *

Zoro was still looking for the building that held Ruffy and the others, and he was almost certain this was the third time he'd seen this doorway with the half chair blocking the way.

"Where the hell is everyone?!"

Something was really not right, and it had little to do with the explosions going on. Zoro's heart was racing and every hair on his body stood on end. What if everybody was dead?

Something landed on the road before Zoro, surprising him. The sound of coughing revealed it was a person, and after a quick check the swordsman was relieved to see it was just the guy with the curls.

"Hey, Mr Curls or whatever. Where are my friends?"

The man looked at him wildly. He was burnt and bleeding and his breathing didn't sound right.

He grabbed Zoro's leg in a desperate hold. "Great warrior!" he croaked and coughed. "I've witnessed your strength and hereby humbly ask for your assistance!"

"Humble someone else! Leg go! I need to find Ruffy."

"Those two! They have abilities! My strength isn't enough! I beg of you, protect the princess in my stead!"

"What are you blabbering about? I don't care! Can't you feel that?"

"If you…" the man tried to clear his voice "if you take her home to Alabasta, you'll be greatly rewarded! So please!"

"Rewarded, you said?"

Both men looked up. Zoro was relieved to see Nami there, wearing a smirk worthy of a cat about to eat the canary.

"We agree to help you against a fee of one billion beli."

The poor curly guy sounded like he swallowed his tongue and it got stuck.

"I thought you were out cold from the booze," Zoro said.

The thief huffed. "If course I wouldn't get drunk in such a suspicious place. I could drink way more."

"Whatever. How are the others?"

"Sanji-kun and Usopp are still sleeping. I think Ruffy went out to use the bathroom. She was so drunk she was crawling."

Zoro caught sight of something further down the street, but Nami turned to the still coughing man on the ground.

"So then, Mr Royal Bodyguard. That's your title, right? You'll give us a billion beli, won't you? If we don't help, your princess will die."

Zoro ignored the blackmailing. There was a body there, right around a corner.

The street that met Zoro was red, even in the moonlight. There were bodies everywhere, and Zoro was certain this wasn't his handiwork. He knew because there was one body in particular, a man from the shape of it, that had been hit in the back and gotten his neck torn out. And there was a tiny arm sticking out from underneath him.

The cold settled in Zoro's stomach. He'd been right. There was something else here.

"Okay Zoro! Go save the princess?"

The swordsman spun around and straggled. He felt sick, and he had a very uncomfortable inkling.

"What?"

Nami blinked at him. "You're going to save the princess. Weren't you listening?"

"I don't have time to look for someone else! Where're the others? Ruffy!"

"They're all fine. You lured all those hunters away from us. Besides, you owe me money."

Zoro gaped, blindsided. "I don't… I have… what?"

"You forgot? I leant you money to buy those silly swords."

Nami's voice was way too sweet for the situation. Hadn't she seen the slaughter? Couldn't she feel something was wrong?

Zoro closed his eyes and shook his head, trying to clear the dizziness, but it only seemed to make it worse.

"I got the swords for free. I returned your money."

"But we agreed on three hundred percent of interest. Are you saying you can't keep a simple promise."

She didn't care. Zoro felt how his heart grew cold for the thief.

"Whatever. Take a look down this street and go make sure the others are still alive."

Nami straightened, satisfied with herself. One billion beli and riling Zoro was a good day's work.

At least until she caught sight of what Zoro had been looking at.

* * *

Princess Nefertari Vivi. In a way, it was a relief to hear her own name again, but the price was too high. Mr 9 had protected her, tried to buy her time. Miss Monday, Igaram's partner, had also tried to help. Because even though Vivi didn't know her real name, despite none of them knowing anything about each other, Miss Monday still considered Vivi a friend.

"Damn, damn, goddammit!"

Vivi wished she knew more curses. They had an oddly grounding effect.

Carue was fast, the fastest of all spot-billed great ducks, but somehow Mr 5 and Miss Valentine were always tauntingly close.

And then, out of nowhere, the swordsman appeared, and whatever he did the street collapsed, forcing Carue to a halt.

"Son of a… why now! Take this!" Vivi tried to attack, but her weapon was deflected.

"Calm down. I came to save you."

Vivi gaped. In front of them, Mr 5 tilted his head curiously.

"Oh? You're the swordsman who cut down all the low-ranking agents here? Why would you protect Alabasta's princess?"

That's exactly what Vivi wanted to know, but she would not have sounded quite as bored as Mr 5.

The swordsman returned with some truly terrifying news.

"Are you saying you're not responsible for the slaughter?"

Vivi froze. "What slaughter?" she demanded. Mr 5 and his partner also looked mildly curious.

The swordsman continued. "I left people alive. Someone else didn't."

Miss Valentine giggled. "It doesn't matter to us."

It should have mattered, because a breath later the air was pierced with a sharp cry, like from a bird of prey.

To Vivi's alarm, Carue fainted under her.

"Carue?! What happened?! Are you hurt?! Wake up!" Vivi desperately shook her friend and looked around. She hadn't heard a shot and there was no blood. So what had happened?

A scratching sound pulled her attention to a rooftop. There was someone there, leaning over the edge and scratching the wall. Something dark was dripping from them, leaving smudges on the surface they rubbed against.

"What is that? A freak?" Mr 5 demanded.

The person froze for a second. Vivi barely had time to register the flash of glowing eyes before they went straight for the black man.

He huffed and exploded on impact. Miss Valentine went into the air again, riding the pressure from the bomb.

Vivi was still shaking Carue, wanting to get out of the way, but it wasn't her Valentine was aiming for.

Zoro only had eyes for his captain, because that creature was his captain. He knew it, felt it in his gut as horrible insight hit him somewhere that hurt. Ruffy wasn't conscious. She was afraid of sleeping. Her heart was a sea of blood.

This was the real reason Ruffy didn't want to sleep.

Behind him the princess called out. "Mr. Bushido! That woman…!"

"Shut up," Zoro hissed, teeth gritted together as he stared through the smoke. "Shut the fuck up. Do I look like I have time to worry about you?"

The dust dispersed in a light gust of wind. From the shadows of hole in the wall she had crashed through, Ruffy slowly emerged, walking on all four, with the bomb guy's bleeding neck in her mouth. The image reminded Zoro of a jaguar making away with its prey, complete with golden eyes that reflected the moonlight, her penetrating blind stare locked on Zoro.

He shivered and tightened his hold on his katana.

Ruffy dropped the unmoving body and stepped over it.

"Ruffy, you know who I am. Friend," the swordsman tried, but the girl just hissed, spread her fingers and toes to get a better grip on the ground.

She had claws. Nami had been saying Ruffy acted like a cat for a while now. Zoro still wanted to disagree; Ruffy's spread attack-stance was something else.

Sighing at the inevitable, Zoro took his black bandana from his arm as he side-stepped the attack from the bitch coming from above screaming at him like a girlfriend he didn't pay enough attention to.

"Okay. I'll just have to pin you down again, captain."

Ruffy's hissing became a growl, then she was moving.

* * *

Nami was running through the streets as fast as her legs could carry her. She'd checked on Sanji and Usopp, and luckily enough they were still where they'd fallen asleep, still alive. They were the only ones beside the princess's royal guard who Nami had found alive.

If this was the work of those who was out to kill the princess, Nami needed to grab her and send Zoro to find Ruffy so they could get off this cursed island. This was about one billion beli for crying out loud!

But rounding a corner, Nami had to dig her heels into the ground.

Zoro and Ruffy were fighting. No, Ruffy was fighting Zoro who tried to overpower her. On the other side of the fighting pair was the princess; the Miss Wednesday girl that had travelled with them from Twin Peak, caught between the buildings, the street behind her collapsed and she was closed in by the fighting pair.

There were two more people there, corpses by the looks of them. A man by a wall, bleeding from his neck and a woman lying so close to Zoro and Ruffy she had probably been caught in the crossfire.

Nami was about to run forward and let her idiot captain and Zoro know they were alive, when Ruffy suddenly turned on her, claws first.

The sight of blind, golden eyes jogged a frightened memory. Ruffy wasn't awake!

Zoro took advantage of Ruffy's distraction, dropped his swords and managed to catch Ruffy's upper arm with one hand. The other hand grabbed the girl's jaws that immediately came to bite herself free.

Zoro thought he could ignore everything Ruffy threw at him now that he'd finally caught her, but she kicked him. Kicked him so hard Zoro almost blacked out.

Nami had one shot. She swung her staff at Ruffy's head with all her might. It had to work. It had to be enough. They just had to keep her down long enough to grab the princess and escape before the agents coming to kill the princess found them!

Zoro's whole world was down to one thing; pin down Ruffy or die.

_"__I WILL NEVER LOSE AGAIN!"_

That's what he'd promised. Zoro wouldn't lose, no matter what. Not even against Ruffy. Gritting his teeth, the swordsman used all his strength and weight to throw his captain on the ground.

"Wake up!"

His call came out a wheezy breath. The girl clawed at his arms, tried to free her head and kick his side.

Zoro still had a grip on Ruffy's jaw and arm, so he pulled her up and hit her against the floor again, with all his might.

"WAKE UP!"

Ruffy made a strange noise, something between a strangled growl and a gasp. She struggled, but it was weaker, and the gold was fading from her eyes. She blinked rapidly and Zoro fought to calm his heart.

The expressions flashed across Ruffy's face. Fear, confusion, recognition, surprise and back to fear when she realized Zoro had a hand around her throat.

"Z-Zoro?"

"Are you finally awake?"

All colour faded from Ruffy's face. "I… I…"

"You fell asleep," Zoro groaned as he released his grip and doubled over. "You kicked me."

"Get up, both of you! You too, princess! Some really strong agent is on the island and has already slaughtered everyone else! We need to get off this island before they find us!"

The princess was kneeling by a giant duck with her mouth hanging open. When Nami addressed her, she looked even more shocked.

"But… they are… Mr 5 and Miss Valentine…"

She was pointing at one bloody body by a wall and the woman just a short distance from Zoro and Ruffy. Ruffy who was covered in blood and shaking and pale as a sheet.

"I… when I sleep… when I dream… I have to fight, and finish with the strongest opponent I can find."

Zoro was still curled around the agonizing pain in his crotch, but it eased a lot at those words. He patted his captain's thigh.

"I forgive you."

Nami looked around at them all. Zoro just had an ego boost in a rather unworthy position. Her captain had apparently saved them a lot of trouble by being a lot of trouble, and on the other side the princess was imitating a bird house.

The thief smiled patiently. "Let me explain."


	8. Part 2-4 Pirate Graveyard

_**Part 2; Pirate Graveyard**_

_**Chapter 4/4; ****Interesting choice**_

Of all the things she was told, Vivi only understood one thing; these pirates wanted a reward. That's not what surprised her. It was that Nami wanted Vivi to hire them and take her all the way back to her home.

"You have my gratitude for saving me, but I must refuse your offer."

"Why? You're a princess. A billion beli should be a cheap price for someone like you. And you can't make it away alone."

Captain Rayla returned from washing the blood off in the river, but she still looked pale and appeared skittish. When Vivi and the rest of the agents residing on this island had fought the swordsman, Vivi had thought the wanted poster was a mistake; that it wasn't this girl who had a bounty on her head. Now she didn't know what to believe. Not even when Rayla sat on the crate by the swordsman and allowed him to wrap an arm around her calf. Was that a show of affection?

She shook her head and focused on Nami. "Do you know of the kingdom Alabasta?"

"Never heard of it," Nami said with a shrug.

As expected of newcomers. But after the ride they had from Twin Peak, Vivi at least new Nami was a competent navigator, no matter how unexperienced.

"It's one of Grand Line's civilized countries. It used to be a peaceful kingdom."

The navigator tilted her head. "Used to be?"

"That's why you're not at home?" Rayla asked. Vivi hadn't spent quality time with the girl, but she hadn't seen Ruffy's face this tense and pinched before.

"It is," Vivi answered her question with a tired nod. "To make a long story somewhat short; we started seeing radical Alabastan revolutionaries that turned the country into a state of chaos. Our spies managed to pick up the existence of a certain organization that was the root of the problem; Baroque Works. But other than the fact that they instigated the unrest, we weren't able to find out anything about them. Who they were, what they wanted, who their leader was."

Vivi rubbed her forehead. She should stop talking, but she did owe these people, however strange and roundabout their method of saving her life had been. But she couldn't deny how relieving it was to speak the truth, to not hide, to open up and breathe.

"I made a request to Igaram; my head of guard who's taken care of me since I was a child."

"That's the fool who got you drunk, Ruffy," the swordsman explained with an irritated frown on his brow.

"At least it tasted good this time around," the girl laughed, a strained, unnatural sound. "And I don't feel sick either."

"You're drunk?" Vivi gave her one strange look before she shook her head. "Anyway. Since we spent weeks and months investigating and still couldn't come up with anything other than these rumours about Baroque Works and were unable to capture anyone because we had no proof at all. I asked Igaram to help me infiltrate the organization. It was the only way to gather information and to spread light amongst the shadows that had been cast over Alabasta."

"Oh? Aren't you brave," Zoro said, and it sounded more like a statement than a compliment.

"I spoke to your head of guards," Nami said. "He said the goal of Baroque Works is the 'creation of an ideal nation'. What does that mean?"

Vivi was about to open her mouth, but the navigator's eyes had already widened in realization.

"Wait, don't tell me they…?"

"Yes, it's exactly like that. The boss has said on occasion that Baroque Works are creating an ideal nation. But the true objective is to take over the kingdom of Alabasta! Igaram and I were about to return, but Mr 9 drew the short stick and I had to come along to go whale-hunting. I've wasted too much time here already. If I don't hurry back and stop the revolutionaries, everything will fall into the boss's hands."

Nami was sighing, pouting even over the fact Vivi really wouldn't be able to reward her. The princess was happy to see Nami backing out of the deal, like a true pirate, when Ruffy opened her mouth.

"And who is this boss you're fighting?"

Vivi jumped up, eyes wide. "I CAN'T SAY! PLEASE DON'T ASK! YOU'RE BETTER OFF NOT KNOWING!" She took a deep breath, willing her heart to not beat so hard. "If I told you boss's identity, the whole organization will hunt you down!"

Nami laughed and covered Ruffy's mouth with her fingers. "You're right. We really don't want to be involved. I mean, someone who's in the middle of taking out an entire country sounds like too dangerous a person for us."

"He really is," Vivi nodded with emphasis, happy they understood. "That man is Crocodile, a member of the Ouka Shichibukai."

Ruffy perked up with the first honestly bright smile since they landed on the island. "Oh! A Shichibukai! Sounds exciting."

"Not bad," Zoro agreed.

Vivi slapped both hands over her mouth in horror. How could she have said that!? Just how could that have slipped out just like that?!

Nami was gaping too, colour draining from her face.

A rustle of feathers pulled everyone's attention to a rooftop. Vivi's heart and stomach plummeted at the sight of the unluckies; the organization's messengers Mr 13 the otter and his vulture partner Miss Friday.

After exchanging a look, Mr 13 jumped onto Miss Friday's back and they flew off.

Nami grabbed Vivi and started furiously shaking her.

"WHAT WAS THAT BIRD AND OTTER JUST NOW!? ARE THEY GOING TO REPORT US?! WHAT'LL HAPPEN TO US NOW?!"

Vivi was very happy when the navigator let her go, not only because she'd bit her tongue trying to apologize. She was too dizzy to catch what the pirates said, but Mr Bushido and Ruffy seemed unconcerned.

"Hey Nami, where are you going?" Ruffy called after the other girl who was purposefully striding away.

"They don't know my face, so I'm bailing. I like you guys, but no. Just no."

Vivi's world stopped spinning in time to see Mr 13 standing with a drawing pad before Nami. Maybe Vivi should have explained that the otter was a spy and skilled in portrait, but it felt like the wrong thing to say when Mr 13 showed his drawings of the tree pirates.

Nami looked decidedly unhappy when she rounded back. "So I can't run away, they mean?!"

"What a funny otter," Ruffy said, following the unluckies with her eyes.

"And just where and on what were you planning to run?" Mr Bushido asked Nami with a grin that said he wasn't feeling bad for mocking her. In fact he looked pleased. "Isn't this just as well? All three of us are on the Baroque Works' hit list. Saves us the time to look for them, am I right?"

The navigator fell into a heap of despair, making Vivi feel even worse.

"I… I have five hundred thousand in savings. You can have that…"

It was a meek offer of comfort, but Vivi was at a loss. She'd faced several situations as an undercover agent, but never one where she was the one responsible for the situation turning out the way it had. Mr Bushido and Ruffy laughing didn't make it better.

"Fear not!"

Vivi jumped up, overjoyed to hear Igaram's voice, only for her heart to sink again, and it had nothing to do with the blood and dirt on him. Igaram was dressed up as her, carrying three dummies under his arms. It could only mean one thing; he must have seen and heard everything.

"I have a plan. Phears…" Igaram cleared and tuned his voice. "Please listen closely. Once Baroque Works' network learns of this and how much you all know, they'll send pursuers right away. If you defeated Mr 5 and his partner, you can expect even lower number agents. I will warn you, pirates. Boss might not have a bounty now that he's working for the government, but he used to be worth eighty million beli."

Ruffy tilted her head and stood. "Thanks for the warning? Was it me who hurt you?"

"Your hand has not grazed me. I need also apologize for the drinking game. I'm glad to see you survived."

"Some of that is my fault," Mr Bushido admitted, waving at Igaram's wounds as he too stood, and Vivi hated the lack of guilt in his voice.

"Considering the situation we found ourselves in, I gracefully admit defeat and wish to express my gratitude for you saving Princess Vivi. Have you decided to escort her home as well?"

Ruffy sighed, sounding a bit annoyed. "That's what Nami told you? We might as well."

"I did not!" Nami shrieked. "Eighty million is four times more than Arlong! Turn them down!"

Vivi felt for the other. She really did, but Igaram, based on his clothes, wasn't planning on travelling with her, and if he didn't, Vivi would be on her own if these pirates couldn't let her board their ship, and she wasn't strong enough to sail alone.

She really was a bother now, wasn't she?

"Now then, princess," Igaram turned to her, and his calm voice made Vivi want to cry, hold on to him, beg him not to do this. "Please give me Alabasta's eternal pose."

Behind her, Nami stopped crying for a second. "Eternal pose? What's that?"

Ruffy raised a hand. "A log pose that doesn't move!"

Igaram studied them all, taking in Nami's confusion, Mr Bushido's indifference and Ruffy's proud face. "Yes, simply put," he nodded. "A log pose records magnetic fields and takes you from island to island, but an eternal pose only ever records one island's field and will forever point to it."

"It looks like this," Vivi said and showed the eternal pose she always kept with her. The one that pointed her home. One that anyone coming after them would most likely also have.

"I shall take this and set forth to Alabasta, masquerading as you, my princess. It will buy you some time to travel the normal route," Igaram explained and turned to the pirates. "Luckily, there are only two or three island between this island and Alabasta. I have never traversed that way myself though, so I can't tell you how long you'll need to stay on each island."

Vivi didn't like it, but Igaram was strong. He hadn't inherited his title as head of the royal guard. She had to believe Mr 5 had taken him down because Igaram had already been worn down by Mr Bushido.

"My princess," Igaram said with calm confidence. "We shall meet again in the fatherland."

* * *

The carnage had stopped. The monster had left only a handful of people alive. It had even seemed to sense Miss All-Sunday's spying eyes and ears, so she hadn't gotten a good look at what exactly it was. It had moved too fast and stayed out of the moonlight.

Not that she had needed to see it. Miss All-Sunday was good at guessing, and it appeared the monster wasn't gone, but rather had fallen back asleep, or the one who was the monster was back to conscious thought. It would not have been the first time she saw someone lose their mind just to have the devil come out and play.

Miss All-Sunday waited patiently, all eyes and ears on the island and the group of people with Alabasta's princess in their midst.

_"We shall meet again in the fatherland."_

All-Sunday opened her eyes, back to herself, and stared at the island.

"Bunch, take me ashore. There's a ship I want to prepare for fireworks."

The turtle obeyed without a sound.

They didn't have to look. The location of escape ships were known to all members involved with Whiskey Peak. Going by the sizes of the three ships docked in the hidden bay, All-Sunday boarded the smallest one. It wasn't much, and would normally take three men to handle. But those Alabastans had always been inventive. You also don't get promoted to the top ten agents on strength only. What the ship lacked in appearance however, it made up for with its storages of explosives. She could add some from the other ships as well, so All-Sunday set to work. Her orders were to clean up were Mr 5 to fail. She had to make it look like that's exactly what she was doing. Like always. Light-shows and trickery, creating cracks for mice to run or enter.

The mist was coming in.

All-Sunday slipped off the ship and onto Bunch's back just as she heard voices approach. The thrill was mild, barely enough to get her heart started, but it was better than the boredom that she'd suffered through tailing Mr 5.

Then it was back to waiting. Waiting to see the princess. A little bit of teasing as a reward to herself. Even though Miss All-Sunday was a lot more curious about the sleeping monster.

* * *

Ruffy couldn't say anything, still too rattled by her last nightmare, but there was a big turtle smoking a cigarette and wearing a cowboy hat floating on the waves. On his shell was a chair with a woman looking their way. Ruffy couldn't say anything because the woman was too far away for her to hear any heartbeat, and her friends were busy waving off Curly-ossan. He had a good tailwind, and Ruffy had to wonder if he really could sail Grand Line like that alone.

"We should hurry to get Usopp and Sanji-kun and set sail," Nami said.

Ruffy nodded, and was about to ask her if she could see the turtle and woman. It's just that the ship with Curly-ossan exploded in a show of flames that covered her entire vision.

"Now!" Nami yelled.

"Roger! I'll go rise the anchor!" Zoro called back and ran off.

"Okay, Ruffy, you get those two idiots!"

The captain started walking backwards. The initial blaze of the explosion had already subsided, and she thought was able to spot the dummies that were supposed to be her, Zoro and Nami. But that was it.

She would have to go through Vivi's heart later, to see the state of the bond. For now she had to get Usopp and Sanji.

* * *

Nami's thoughts were racing a mile a minute. One billion beli was at stake, there were more agents coming, Ruffy had killed everyone on the island, they would get _one billion beli_! Had Zoro found Merry or gotten himself lost again?

Behind her, Vivi bit her pinkie and let out a sharp whistle.

She was strong. Nami had to admit that, even if she'd brought them a mess that most possibly could get them all killed. But she couldn't think like that. Not when it was exactly the same thing she'd thought when Ruffy faced off against Buggy, against Kuro and his crew. It's what she'd thought when Ruffy had taken down Arlong.

Nami still had to ask someone what had happened after she left them all at Baratie.

Vivi whistled again. "Why isn't he answering?"

"What?" Nami asked as they rounded the last building and Merry was in front of them.

Nami tried not to think about the fact she jumped over the halves of a body. Every street, there was so much blood. The navigator still couldn't comprehend that this was Ruffy's doing. The monster that had done this couldn't be the same girl that had been starving, standing under the stairs of Baratie like an abandoned dog.

"Carue, my giant duck! He always comes when I whistle. I don't understand what happened."

They both stopped, Nami watched Ruffy approach them from the shoreline pulling Sanji-kun and Usopp behind her.

"We can't go back and look for him! Your head of guard was… just now!"

"But I can't just leave him behind!"

"What's holding you! Get on! I already raised the anchor!" Zoro called from the ship while he caught Usopp that Ruffy threw at him.

"But Carue!" Vivi cried desperately.

"What?" Zoro saw Sanji coming and promptly stepped aside instead of catching him.

"Oi, Zoro! That was mean!" Ruffy huffed while she too climbed aboard.

"Not sorry. What's this about a carol?"

"Her giant duck," Nami explained.

Zoro looked behind him before focusing on the girls again. "This guy?"

"Quack!"

Ruffy almost lost her grip on the railing in surprise. She hadn't expected there to be a bird on her ship.

"What's this duck?"

"No clue. He was here before me."

The problem solved by itself, Nami and Vivi both climbed aboard without further arguing.

"Turn the ship around and head upstream," Vivi instructed. "There's a connecting river that will take us out on the other side of the island."

"Perfect, that will bring us straight on the right course," Nami said after glancing at the log pose.

The morning mist embraced them long before the light did. Vivi had said not to trust the sun, but she still wanted to say the lightened sky was east. That's now nature worked, but she's already learnt the bitter lesson that Grand Line was Mother Nature's wayward son who never abided to her rules.

Either way; it was morning, they were all alive and leaving the hornet's nest protected by the mist. It had taken the log pose roughly seven hours to record the magnetic field, give or take, so hopefully they had at least that much time before pursuers could pick up the chase.

Just as the river was broadening and the sea opened up before them, Usopp woke up, rubbing his face.

"Hey? What? Merry? Wait, what! Are we leaving already?! Why?!"

Sanji was also coming around, and hastily jumped into protesting along with the younger boy.

Nami had enough patience left to offer two words as explanation; Drop Dead.

Zoro looked down at the two them, hoping this wasn't going to be his life from now on. Usopp wasn't much of a fighter, but Zoro did prefer him awake and aware of his surroundings., no matter how much of a nuisance his paranoia was. The cook though looked confused but happy to have received Nami's smiling wrath, even though it had knocked him out cold. For the second time in the same night. Or maybe even the third? Ruffy had been pulling him by the leg after all.

"Will they be okay?" the princess asked.

"They've survived worse," the swordsman offered as consolation.

Ruffy was distracted by a new heartbeat. Since she woke up, she hadn't head a single one beside the people in her direct surroundings. She hated the silence. No heartbeats meant no life. No life meant everything was dead. It would take weeks before anyone could coax her to sleep again.

But here it was; a new heartbeat, and it didn't sound hostile at all.

She stared at the tall woman in revealing clothes as she strolled around the galley, smiling charmingly as she sat on the railing outside the kitchen.

"Be mindful of the rocks around here. Congratulations on escaping."

All around her, the hearts of her crew and the princess jumped. But the woman kept smiling at Ruffy.

"What a nice ship."

The captain nodded, accepting the compliment for what it was, before the new woman aimed a far more teasing smile and greeting at Vivi.

"Miss Wednesday, I just met with Mr 8."

The princess filled with so much emotion Ruffy would have been surprised she couldn't react to all that hatred, if it wasn't for the fact the new arrival's heartbeat was louder. It was a jaded sound, hurt too many times to care about other people's feelings.

"What are you doing here Miss All-Sunday?!" Vivi cried, anger distorting her voice.

"What's this? Who is she? Where's her partner?!" Nami fired questions like a barking dog.

"Mr 0's. The boss's partner. The only one who knows who he is."

Whatever that meant, Ruffy wasn't sure. Couldn't say she cared either. There was something about this woman. Her teasing and honest words clearly rubbed the princess the wrong way.

"What exactly do you want?!" Vivi hollered. Ruffy couldn't understand how she could be so angry and still not act. Did she really think her screaming was intimidating?

"Now, now, no need to get so riled up," the woman said in that same calm tone. "You worked so hard I wanted to reward you. The little princess who went up against Baroque Works to save her kingdom was so cute. And so naïve it was funny."

Ruffy tilted her head, the situation triggering a distant memory. Her mother had loved teasing others to the point of hurting them. When it came to that she would sit down and let her victim curse her and cry until everything was forgiven.

_"Emotions aren't there to be locked up inside, Rayla. Makino is always calm no matter what happens because she has to be. I rile her so that she gets angry and hurt and cries, then she can keep calm when the circumstances calls for it."_

_"I don't get it," little Ruffy had said at the time._

_"It's like this; you tease others either because you like them, or…"_

"Because you're bored," Ruffy said out loud, unknowingly hindering the eruption of Vivi's fury that had reached its peak.

"OH! A BEAUTIFUL LADY!"

Sounded like Sanji was back.

"Please read the atmosphere!" Nami wailed, but at least this time she was too far away to knock the cook out again.

"Uh? Zoro? What are you waiting for? Charge! I'll cover you!"

Usopp was up too. Good.

"You're right," the strange woman agreed after studying Ruffy curiously. "I'm bored. I had my orders, and I have seen them through, so I have no reason to fight with you. But you have the princess, so I had to check in."

Ruffy blinked slowly. She truly hated half-lies. Too much truth for her to detect exactly what the lie was.

But then there was suddenly a sense of being touched, and the contact made her aware of two things. The woman had eaten a devil fruit, and her heart wasn't just jaded.

She had the heart of a hunted animal.

The straw hat suddenly left Ruffy's head and flew over to the woman, distracting the pirate.

"MY HAT!"

"So you are the captain of the Mugiwara pirates, Monkey D. Ruffy."

The pirates all readied their weapons, even Sanji, though he froze when he realized. Luckily for him Ruffy beat them all to the punch.

"Give that back! It's not mine! I promised Sun I would return it!"

"Sun?" the woman repeated with surprise and recognition. "Crimson Sun?" She fanned herself with the straw-hat as comprehension crossed her features. The curiosity made her prettier as it brought more life to her eyes. "I see. Interesting. And here _you_ are, a small-time pirate, not enough manpower to be a proper crew, picking up a princess targeted by all of Baroque Works. You really don't plan to go into hiding."

"Of course not! Sun and everyone else who died all wanted me to live!"

All-Sunday went stiff. Ruffy blinked. Her words had touched something very soft in the woman's heart. Something painful hidden very far down and under many layers of defence.

But the crack was quickly healed, the emotion sealed away. This was not the time or place or company. Instead, she smiled with her mouth.

"You're a funny girl, senshou-san," she said and flicked the hat off her hand. Ruffy caught it easily, settling it back on her head. "And so are you, princess, poor dear forced to entrust your life to a handful of criminals you know nothing about," the woman continued. "And on top of that is the island you're headed to."

"What about it!?" Vivi hissed hatefully.

"The island your log pose points you to is called _Little Garden_. That means we won't need to bother with you, since you will never reach Alabasta."

Ruffy's eyes narrowed. It was the truth but the woman was teasing them. And there was something else in her heart. Something that wasn't bored, but this woman didn't like them either. Ruffy would need to get closer to really hear it, but it sounded familiar.

"What are you trying to say?" Vivi hissed, still angry, still shaking and still rooted on the spot.

"Rushing in without looking is the act of fools."

Ruffy was the captain of Going Merry. The one she had entrusted to take her across the ocean as a navigator was Nami. So when she saw this woman throw an eternal pose to Vivi, she might as well have thrown Ruffy's pride out with the garbage.

"With this you will avoid Little Garden, landing you on the Empty Island near Alabasta. Baroque Works don't know the route either, so you'll avoid pursuers," she said and Ruffy didn't care. Not one bit. Not when this mocking stranger thought Vivi would be the one making the decision.

In a fit of indignant fury, Ruffy snatched the eternal pose and crushed it in her hand.

"The only one to decide where this ship is headed is _me_," she snarled, her eyes burning gold.

The woman's heart was saddened. "I see. How unfortunate."

"RUFFY!" Nami shrieked and stopped herself from beating the other girl's head in. "Why would you do that?! What if she really wants to help?!"

"It's not helping to lead us off the course!" Ruffy argued, fuming. "And besides! You're supposed to be my navigator and take us anywhere I ask you to because you're the best one on all the seas!"

While Nami blushed prettily and preened after the praise, Miss All-Sunday was now even more interested in the straw-hat captain. All-Sunday was good with mind-games and deceit, whether she liked it or not, but this was the first time anyone had blatantly bulldozed through the traps, and that without apparently understanding that's what she'd done.

"I don't dislike bold people. Let's meet again, would you survive," she said and tipped her hat. The captain had earned that much respect from her.

The Baroque Worker left, on a giant turtle with a cowboy hat and smoking cigarettes, and Vivi dropped into an unworthy heap. "That woman! What does she want?! I don't understand! What's she planning?!"

Usopp and Sanji were still clueless, but at least now they were not crying about going back to Whiskey Peak, so Nami, again, took it upon herself to explain, with a little help from Zoro.

"The island was a nest of bounty hunters. I fought them after you fell asleep."

Or a lot of help, at least in saving time, but who cares.

* * *

Miss All-Sunday relaxed, absorbing the first rays of the sun. Those were the most healthy, according to myth. She felt like she needed them, but couldn't tell anyone why. For some reason she felt tired, and brown eyes were staring back at her whenever she closed her eyes. Not hostile, not suspicious, just watching.

All-Sunday was used to people watching her every move, she was even used to the feeling of someone staring into her soul. So why were those shifting eyes of a pirate making her feel seen for the first time?

Still.

"Little Garden."

She had hurt the pirate girl's feelings, All-Sunday wasn't blind. Yet, maybe it was her fault for making assumptions.

For her inner eye, brown eyes watched, flecked with gold, trying to see. Not that it mattered. That girl had chosen to walk straight forward and head for Little Garden, the island of the giants.

"Interesting choice."

* * *

**AN;** This is the end of this part. (sorry!) For those of you who was hoping for an instant connection between Robin and Ruffy, I'm sorry, this is the best I could do that would be at least somewhat satisfactory (I hope) to all readers.

You know, this quarantine has given me a lot of time to think. Because I do want to write an original work and have something published, I have come to realize exactly where my big weakness is; storytelling. I'm good at characters and relationships, and I like to think I have a firm grasp on world building. But stories? I just have to keep working on that. At the same time, even though this monster is quite daunting to write, it's also rather relaxing. Because it's so long, I can take my time, not having to rush development because the story have to/is about to end.

Anyway; next part is "Little Garden", and I want to have that entire arc in one part. Which unfortunately means you'll have to wait for a long time before the next update ;_;

Until then, wash your hands, call your friends and family often, stay safe and healthy. I love you all!  
/Mjus


	9. Part 3-1 Adjusting

He...hello, dear readers. Have you waited long? For this? Two chapters of filler? I... I'm sorry...

So I got a little distracted by another project and work, and I do remember I sort of said I'd update the Little Garden arc around... May. Yeah, may was a long time ago... but better late than never, right?! I'm not dead! I haven't given up on this either. Sometimes I just get a little... uninsnspired. But more often than not I come back, and this monster is too big for me to ignore, and too many people are waiting for it, so it will not be abandoned.

So without further ado; please forgive me for leaving you hanging for so long, and enjoy this heap of fluff I've written for you...

* * *

**_Part 3; Adjusting_**

**_Chapter 1/2; How is Coby doing?_**

Vivi had had a change of clothes. Now that she was no longer Mir 9's partner, she didn't need to dress up to suit him. She'd lost her fake jewellery, which she was silently happy about, and all personas were dropped along with the lies.

She'd been living with those lies and smoke and mirrors for long enough that being herself felt both relieving and strange.

It made her feel on edge.

_"__We shall meet again in the fatherland."_

Biting the inside of her cheek as she put her hair up, Vivi did not cry. She didn't have time to be sad and indecisive, no matter what happened.

The princess sat in the girls' room and glanced at the two beds. One for the captain and one for Nami. None of them had had the chance to use this room before due to the storms and icebergs and whatnot that had come their way going from Twin Peak. But before Miss Wednesday still had the luxury of privacy. That wasn't something that could exist on this boat.

Slapping her face to rid herself of the negative emotions best she could and stand tall the way that was expected from a princess, Vivi stepped up into the storeroom and out on deck.

In the bow, because that's where the sun was, sat Usopp on a sunchair with Rayla resting across his lap and looking curiously at the toy he was working. Beside them sat Mr Bushido who was teasing Carue and the giant spot-billed duck pretending to hate it but wasn't moving.

They were all so relaxed Vivi wanted to set something on fire.

Nami was watching over them all from the other side of the main deck, keeping an eye on the log pose, the sky and the water.

"Don't get me wrong, it's really nice we haven't been surprised by a blizzard or anything, but I had expected more trouble," the navigator said after noticing Vivi's approach.

"There might be blizzards," the princess confirmed. "But the first stretch of the journey is a special case. The ocean is affected by all the magnetic fields from the seven islands and Red Line. Now that we've passed that the weather, currents and winds will be more stable, albeit still unpredictable."

Nami nodded distractedly, looking over at the rest of the crew where Carue just had enough of Zoro's teasing and was angrily quacking and flapping his wings. The rest were laughing at him even though Usopp tried to sooth the bird, despite giggling to hard he was shaking.

"Aren't they too laid back!" the princess demanded, pointing at the laughing group.

Right then, Sanji danced out of the kitchen.

"Nami-san. Vivi-chan. Most beautiful on the seas, fair maidens of purity before my unworthy eyes. Would the two most lovely women aboard sooth my pounding heart by accepting this special drink of love."

The princess stared, caught off guard by a lot of things and words she'd never expected to hear from a pirate. The drink offered to her was a clear green in colour, decorated with a slice of mandarin and a white flower, making it rather pleasing to look at.

"Thank you, Sanji-kun," Nami smiled as she took a glass.

Vivi couldn't do much else but accept the glass as well, along with the cook's smile, before the man headed for the rest of the crew.

"Hey, ugly heads and Ruffy! Who's up for my special drink?!"

Everyone answered "ME!" while rising a hand or a leg.

It was such an innocent scene. Everyone was so relaxed as Sanji set his tray down and hands reached for the glasses while the cook shoved a different drink in the captain's face. And on the other side of the deck Vivi felt like she was about to burst from the frustration. This was Grand Line for crying out loud! You couldn't trust anything! You couldn't relax for even a second!

"Why is it like this?!" the princess cried at Nami, who also looked way too calm, sipping her drink from a straw.

"It'll be fine. They'll spring to attention if we happen on rough seas."

Nami smiled fondly at the boys and her captain who were up to their usual shenanigans along with a giant duck. Ruffy was making a face after downing the vitamin drink Sanji prepared for her every morning. Seeing Vivi reminded Nami of the time when she'd been fighting against the warmth that spread in her heart from just being around Ruffy, trying to not be a part of the crew when the younger girl was crying out for Nami's affection. It seemed so stupid now. If Ruffy wanted you to love her, you would love her no matter how much you resisted.

Vivi would understand that soon too, and the easy laugher from the group as they relaxed and played with the duck was a good start.

"Being on this ship just makes stressing about it feel like a waste of energy," Nami said.

Vivi wasn't so sure, but there was a warm breeze, there was laugher in the air, a cool drink in her hand and she was on her way home. She'd been on this undercover mission for years, but her persona had been stripped.

Unable to hold back a laugh of disbelief, Vivi relaxed, and it shouldn't have been such an alien feeling to do so. Just what had she been doing the past three years to make her this way?

"You're right, Nami-san."

In the bow, Sanji sat on the railing with his own glass. He felt good now. He was frustrated about having missed out on a fight, and he wasn't stupid enough to not notice there was a hole in the story. Something had happened to Ruffy. Something that made her cuddle up with Usopp. But despite that, she'd accepted both the vitamin drink and the special drink. And for the first time there had been no flash of nausea as soon as she saw him bearing food. That made Sanji's day, and he sighed quietly in content as he turned to watch the sea.

"Hey, look! Dolphins!" he called to the rest.

Everyone looked up with sounds of enthusiasm. Sounds that quickly dried up when the creature the cook had spotted came closer.

Well, it was indeed a dolphin; one that was about six times the size of their ship, and was way too close to turning her into a _sinking_ ship!

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Ruffy shouted, but not in panic. Instead she sounded excited and happy.

And to be honest, Sanji's heart was happy too, pumping adrenaline and endorphin that glued a wide smile on his face. Usopp and the duck running around in a panic just made the whole experience funnier.

Other than the dolphin that playfully chased them for a couple of hours, it was an uneventful journey where they had the chance to rest properly.

* * *

Once upon a time, Coby knew when he was dreaming. Now he wasn't so sure, or maybe he was dead and had gone to heaven, which was surprisingly closely connected to hell? Every single muscle in his body hurt from strain and overuse and exhaustion.

Oh, and he felt like he had shrunk to the size of an ant.

Because he was at Marine headquarters.

It had all happened so fast Coby wouldn't be able to tell the story for several years. Right now he only knew he was probably awake, staring up at the underside of the hammock above him. Coby listened to the breathing and snoring of five other boys, one of those being Helmeppo.

They were at the Marine Headquarters! The place Coby had dreamt of going to for so many years. And was a chore boy. Again. Somehow he was almost happy about that one constant in his life. And even though it was almost slave work, Coby couldn't complain. Not when he watched the soldiers running courses that might kill them if they made a mistake, run and train in blazing sunlight until they collapsed.

So no, Coby wasn't complaining. Not when the people he served had even less freedom than he did.

On a thin mattress on the floor, Helmeppo made a noise and turned over.

Coby stared at his friend. Normally, Coby didn't think bad about people, and maybe Helmeppo had deserved some of the backlash he'd suffered. It's just that it had never ended. Not until now. Because nobody knew them here. Here Helmeppo had never been the bragging son of any higher-up everyone had been afraid of.

For the first time, the sighs of abuse had faded from Helmeppo's face and body.

And to his credit, while he had yelled and cursed, Helmeppo had endured everything that had been thrown his way, daring to stay strong before his tormentors in a way that made Coby feel humbled. It made him realize exactly how much of a coward Coby really had been.

Outside the window, Coby could see the silhouettes of the roof of the building next to the barracks. The sky was getting lighter.

A loud trumpet startled them all awake, even Coby, though he didn't know if he'd been sleeping.

They all groaned as they rose from their beds, Coby and Helmeppo stumbling around hesitatingly as they hadn't found a routine with the other boys yet. They were friendly enough though.

"Vice admiral Garp wanted us to come by today, huh?" Helmeppo said, still more asleep than awake.

Everyone shuddered.

"Good luck," one of the boys said without making eye-contact.

"I'll go make sure the first aid kit is properly stocked," another said and hurried away.

"I'll inform the people at the infirmary."

Watching them all leave in a rush, Helmeppo stood beside Coby until they couldn't hear their footsteps.

"This is your fault, you know," was all he said.

"Yes, I'm sorry."

Because it definitely was Coby's fault. He's the one who had, in a moment of thoughtlessness, asked Monkey D. Garp if he was related to Monkey D. Ruffy.

But before they would meet with Garp today, Coby and Helmeppo had a mountain of chores to do. Almost literally; it was laundry day. The six chore boys were divided into three groups; sheets, trousers, and shirts. Coby and Helmeppo were today in charge of the trousers, underwear and socks. They had to do everything by hand, and the number of soldiers exceeded twenty thousand.

The only good thing was that the soldiers were also divided into groups and sections, so the workload wasn't quite as bad as it sounded, but they couldn't slack off. The soldiers would come by in the late afternoon to fetch their clothing and by then everything had to be cleaned, dried and ironed.

Sometimes, Coby compared his life now to the one he'd lived aboard Alvida's ship. Back then he'd done whatever chores the pirates asked of him to stay alive, but sometimes they would forget about his presence and that allowed him to rest until hunger drove him out of hiding. Now it wasn't about survival. If he failed his chores the punishment was some dirtier duty nobody wanted to do, not death. If he failed again he would be sent away. So Coby was scrubbing the dirtied pants, smelly socks and underwear without complaint.

"Another one," Helmeppo said and quickly showed the stains on another pair of boxer briefs.

"You know that request about opening a brothel here? Do you really think there'd be less soaked undies if it happened?"

"At least there would be a reason not to cum in them."

The boys kept working, sharing only such odd comments. Coby still thought about the pirates that had once been his jailers.

The crew back then had been as frightened of Alvida as Coby, but it had been different for them. Alvida was still their captain and the one they had chosen to follow. They had respected her, and she had actually cared for them in a way that Coby only understood now. In battle, Alvida had always been the one to go first, the one to install fear and make a raid that much easier for the crew as their shield and sword.

It was Helmeppo who had taught him that. He'd called it a 'fear factor" tactic. It was also the difference between pirates and marines. Marine commanders always had to stay behind, engage in battle as little as possible and keep their eyes on the overall battle, to see where the pirates were most vulnerable and aim there.

It made Coby worry about Ruffy. She was a pirate captain, and she would definitely be the one to lead her crew into whatever battle they decided to take on. She had Zoro at her side, and the two of them were really strong, but if the marines of this base went after her, she wouldn't stand a chance. Not with only two people. Unless she had a full-scale crew now? Coby didn't know, but it was a simmering worry that stayed with him through the morning.

It was midday when Bogard, who was normally Garp's shadow, came offering a plate of onigiri.

"You're working hard," he said, and it wasn't with kindness.

Coby forgave him. Nobody in the headquarters ate lunch. Instead breakfast was served before the sun rose and dinner when the sun was setting. It was to get them all used to harsh environments and the fact that there wouldn't always be cooks and food around.

The two new chore boys hadn't gotten used to this yet, and this time of day their bodies would scream for food before settling down to a dull ache that lasted until dinner-time.

"It's been eight years since Monkey D. Ruffy disappeared," Bogard spoke quietly, glaring at the boys. "It was late night and Garp came to fetch her from… an incident involving a strong wind and balloons. We got to her safely and were going back, but when we arrived, she was gone. We thought she'd fallen off the ship without anyone noticing, but couldn't find her body."

By now both Coby and Helmeppo were staring at the swordsman. Coby did some quick math. Ruffy was seventeen, so she must have been only nine when she went missing. From a marine ship, disappearing right under the nose of a marine vice admiral. How?

How must Garp have felt when the wanted posters came out?

"She clearly didn't drown," Helmeppo said. "Did she escape?"

Coby suddenly had a sinking feeling in his stomach. Ruffy had disappeared, but hadn't drowned, and she couldn't swim or navigate now so he doubted she could back then, and if a small boat was missing, the marines would have realized and known what had happened.

There was only one explanation left, and it made Coby sick.

"She didn't become a pirate until I met her, and she had all those scars from before."

"Huh? What do you mean, Coby?" Helmeppo asked, eyes wide.

"Well…"

"She's a pirate now, which makes her our enemy," Bogard said soberly. "Now keep working. You have two hours to finish."

The boys turned slowly to the literal mountains of work they still had to do. Helmeppo rubbed his face tiredly and Coby swallowed the last of his onigiri. Two hours, it was.

* * *

As they walked towards Garp's office, Helmeppo inspected his hands with a strange expression, like wonder and resentment at the same time. Coby couldn't see what was so fascinating about his friend's hands. Coby's own looked the same; calloused, chapped, red, wrinkled from water and heat and rubbed quite raw. Wounds on his hands were his normal and he actually couldn't remember a time he'd not have bloodied hands.

"What is it?" the shorter boy asked as curiosity got the better of him.

"I never thought about it before," Helmeppo muttered sourly. "My hands were always soft."

That didn't really surprise Coby, given Helmeppo hadn't worked a day in his life before Morgan was arrested, but he couldn't understand the cause of Helmeppo's emotions.

"So?"

Frowning, the blond shoved his hands into his pockets. "They hurt, but they look manly now, somehow. Like I had feminine hands before. Pisses me off."

Coby just stared at the other, incomprehensive, and stared at his own hands. Were they masculine? He wasn't so sure. They were small with thick, short fingers and said everything about what he'd been doing during the day.

Shrugging, Coby let it go and turned the last corner they would pass before standing outside Garp's office, only to jump back in surprise, Helmeppo's quick reflexes covering his mouth to stop the startled shriek that almost escaped.

But Garp noticed them anyway. His expression was hidden under his dog hood, but he stood before a wall covered with wanted posters. Coby didn't need to look to know whose poster the vice admiral had been looking at.

The old hero grinned. "How are you boys?! Keeping up with your training? Made any progress?"

Both teens stared at the elder with questioning eyes.

"Training?" Helmeppo repeated timidly, dreading where this was going.

Garp looked surprised. "Isn't that why you came here? You want to be marine soldiers, yes?"

"Yes," Coby said without thinking, and felt Helmeppo's hands close around his throat and squeeze.

"Then hit the fields!" Garp barked and bodily threw them straight out the building. "You are hereby my pupils! Let's start with the basics!"

Landing hard on the unforgiving ground, Coby was almost amazed he'd heard Garp's voice over his own cries and the wind.

"I hate you so much, Coby," Helmeppo groaned from beside him. "I sure hope our roommates really did fill up the first aid kit."

"Give me a hundred laps, push ups and sit-ups! Within the hour! If you can't you'll face me two on one!"

Coby struggled to his feet. He thought of Ruffy. This was her doing. This was the chance she was giving him without knowing. This was Marine HQ, a place you couldn't dream of unless you were amongst the elite. Coby wasn't an elite, but he was here in this place anyway.

Marine Admiral.

That title wouldn't be given to just anyone, least of all someone who gave up before trying. So Coby dried the blood from his face and gave Garp a challenging look.

"In that order?"

The elderly man grinned back. "Whatever fits you best. This is just warm-up after all."

Yes, Coby might have died and gone to heaven, which was very closely connected to hell.


	10. Part 3-2 Adjusting

Warning for major spoilers in this chapter. See you in the next instalment, if my arms can keep up.

* * *

_**Part 3; Adjusting**_

_**Chapter 2/2; Share my Lullaby**_

It was three days since they'd left Whiskey Peak, and aside from the sea king sized dolphin that first day, the crew had a fairly easy ride. They had crossed a strange set of currents that had had Merry dancing in all sorts of directions, but the weather was quite steady; humid and warm.

Nami was keeping a very close eye on the log pose, and once or twice a day she thought of asking Ruffy about her time in Grand Line. And about the person she had travelled with. Unfortunately Nami was always distracted by something.

"Hey, Nami," Vivi whispered to her in the late afternoon.

"What?"

"Are Ruffy-san and Mr Bushido…?"

Nami blinked, confused and looked to where the princess was throwing shy glances. At first all she saw was Ruffy jumping up from stealing a quick snuggle from the snoring swordsman and resuming her game of tag with Usopp and the duck. But then Nami realized Vivi probably saw the same thing completely differently.

"They're not a couple, if that's what you're asking," the navigator spoke.

"Oh."

Nami turned to stare at the princess, because she sounded so disappointed. "Is that a problem?"

"Oh! No, of course not. Eh, well, I suppose… how should I explain it?"

Ruffy bounced around on the deck, a stolen yellow feather in her hand, laughing breathlessly with an angry Carue chasing after her while Usopp leaned against the main mast trying to catch his breath.

Suddenly digging one heel into the deck and spinning around, Ruffy caught Carue around the neck and pressed the protesting duck down, urging him to surrender with a firmness that said the game was over, yet still a gentleness and smile that spoke volumes about how much she liked the bird. Carue only struggled for a few seconds before going still. Ruffy released him, returned his feather and gave the duck a rub on his forehead. Everything forgiven, Carue started to clean himself. Ruffy stood and turned towards Nami.

And froze, eyes going wide and golden as she stood rooted to the spot. Even from a distance Nami could see the hair on Ruffy's arms rise.

But it passed just as fast and the captain was left blinking and looking around before she started moving again.

"Hey Nami, I think I just heard a heartbeat."

The navigator blinked. To be perfectly honest, Nami still wasn't exactly sure about what Ruffy was referring to when talking about heartbeats. It seemed to be layered, her ability to dive into other people's hearts… no that wasn't right. When Ruffy listened to Nami's heart, Nami could hear Ruffy's heartbeat too; the memories hidden in them. But was that the same as now, hearing a heartbeat in a distance?

Still, Nami had given up trying to get her captain to cough up a sensible answer to anything, so she settled on; "A heartbeat? Out here?"

Ruffy took a seat on the railing beside Nami and tilted her head from side to side, listening.

"I… can't hear it anymore, so something might have happened somewhere. Must be someone with a really strong heart. I can't even see an island yet!"

"A strong… heart?" Vivi asked, eyes wide and blinking owlishly.

"Yes. I can hear heartbeats," Ruffy explained and turned to the princess with a slight frown. "Yours too, but there's something about you I don't like, so I don't want to listen to your heart."

Nami was only mildly surprised. Ruffy hadn't liked Vivi or her partner from the get go, though she'd thought the younger pirate would have gotten over it. But right now Ruffy was clearly more interested in the heartbeat she'd just heard and abandoned them to go sit on Merry's head to spy forward.

It was becoming a familiar sight.

"Ruffy-san is… different," Vivi said quietly.

"From what?" Nami asked.

The princess frowned thoughtfully. "Most people? I mean, I thought I'd met my fair share of… different kinds of people within Baroque Works, but Ruffy-san is…"

Nami thought too when Vivi couldn't find the words. "The difference between Ruffy and the followers of… oh, of course she is. Ruffy isn't a follower, she's our captain."

The response made Vivi blink again. "That's… is that it? Are captains different from other crooks." The words had just slipped out without filters, and the princess slapped her hands over her mouth with a horrified look in her eyes. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it like that!"

"Like what?" Nami asked, smirking with humour. "We are still pirates, you know. But I suppose it's like that. Ruffy follows only her own heart, and she holds the promise of my dream as well, so I follow her." She glanced at Zoro who was still snoring by the railing. "We are all with Ruffy because that's where our dreams can be realized. And she's got trust issues, so don't take it personally."

Vivi frowned in thought and stared at the pirate sitting on the head of the ship. Her first impression of the crew was that it was held together by Nami-san, who was probably the first mate, given her role and prowess as a navigator. Later she'd thought Mr Bushido was the captain. Now that she knew it was Ruffy-san, Vivi felt unbalanced.

Ruffy wasn't a leader the way Vivi thought one would be. The leader of kingdoms were of course kings, those kinds of leaderships were often inherited, trained and there to make the decisions brought up by the diet and people and then make sure those decisions were followed through.

But the leaders of pirates? Vivi had always thought pirate captains were simply the one who was the strongest of them, who made everyone else submit to their will, or made a deal with people whose skillset they needed for their own purposes.

That's not the feeling Vivi got when looking at this crew. They all cared about each other. It might also be her pride stinging a little at the sight of everyone taking to Carue faster than they did her.

"Nami-san, do you have a deal with Ruffy-san?"

The other girl made a strange face as she thought. "I… don't? I mean, I promised to take her to the ends of the earth, I've promised I'll take them all safely to wherever they want to go."

"And what do you get in return?"

Nami snorted. "I already told you that. My dream. I want to map the whole world. I can't do that unless I've seen the whole world first. Before you ask; no, I can't do that under any other captain. Ruffy's going to be the King of Pirates after all, so who better to bet your life on?"

Vivi didn't understand, and it saddened her to realize that maybe she wasn't meant to. This was an unfamiliar world for her to be part of, even though really, she wasn't.

On Merry's head, Ruffy turned around to stare curiously at the princess. Right now she thought she heard something shift in Vivi's heart. Her face did look slightly crestfallen as she walked up to her duck friend.

Ruffy smiled to herself and turned back forward. Whatever the shift had been, the pirate liked it.

* * *

There was something special about Earl Grey, something that said that this is what tea was supposed to taste like. The aroma invited you in with its warmth, its hints of herbs lingering in the taste that was both bitter and soothing at the same time. If you asked Mr 3, Earl Grey was the OG amongst teas.

"Mr 3, I'm bored," a young girl's voice spoke.

"Is that so? How can it be? You hate to work," Mr 3 answered.

"Yes," the girl admitted without shame.

"Then make sure you enjoy this our little vacation, granted only to those with highest rankings."

The girl made a humming sound. Mr 3 looked at her. Miss Golden Week didn't have much to her at all, wasn't much of a fighter either, but then again, neither was he. They complimented each other nicely though, with him being a blank canvas for her colours.

Speaking of which, the girl held a piece of paper in her hands again today.

"Say, you've been staring at that paper for three days now. What is it?"

"Orders from Boss."

Mr 3 almost jumped out of his chair in his hurry to snatch the order. "Why didn't you tell me!"

People turned, glanced curiously at them, narrowed their eyes. Yes, they weren't the only criminals here. Mr 3 might be here on a vacation, but he'd be foolish not to know every face in the crime world. So he straightened up and reclined in his chair in the shade of a parasol.

The note was short and concise as always.

"So Mr 5 and his partner have been defeated. Well, that's neither here nor there, it would have been better if it had been Mr 2."

"Then you would have been promoted," Miss Golden Week stated in her usual, bland tone.

"True. Unfortunately Mr 2 is more of a man… well, I'll leave that right there. My point is that Mr 5 is nothing more than an idiot who thinks he's powerful because he ate a devil fruit. I truly pity fools like him."

Mr 3 took one last, appreciative whiff of his tea before downing it.

"Our vacation has been cut short, I see. Miss Golden Week, I trust you have the eternal pose to Little Garden boss mentioned?"

* * *

When evening fell on their third day of travel towards Little Garden, Ruffy was insufferably excited. Usopp had fished her out of the ocean once already when the girl leaned too far forward on Merry's head and lost her grip.

"Can you cool down?! We won't reach an island any faster just because you're running around!" the liar cried in exasperation.

"But, but, but! The heartbeats! I can't see an island but I hear it! The heartbeats are so, so, so _huge_!" Ruffy tried to explain and threw her hands in the air, just to run another leap around the deck like that.

Usopp slapped a hand over his forehead and pulled it over his face before he headed over to Sanji. "Don't you have something that can to put her to sleep?"

Normally Sanji would have taken offence at the request, but watching Zoro throw himself after their captain who just jumped right off the ship, he couldn't. Normally he would have gone for the old "alcohol on a sugar cube" trick, but he doubted that would be effective.

"I… I have some… calming drugs…"

Sanji, Usopp and Nami all turned towards the fidgeting princess. Vivi blushed a bright red, and at that moment Zoro hauled their wet captain back on board, keeping a tight hold on her as she was flailing out of control. Really out of control. Ruffy's face was a grimace of panic.

"Let's try it," Nami ordered.

"If you could please assist me in the kitchen, Vivi-chan," Sanji asked.

"I-I'll go fetch the medicine!"

Nodding in agreement, the cook watched the princess leave before walking towards the kitchen while Usopp and Nami went to assist Zoro. Depending on what kind of medicine it was and what it was made of, Sanji thought he could put it either in tea or a light soup. To be on the safe side he took out the needed ingredients and tools for both. With the kettle on the stove and critically inspecting his pots, fighting a longing to cook up something that took a lot of time and effort and attention.

"I'm here, Sanji-san. I'm sorry."

"About what?" the cook asked, honestly surprised as he held his hand out for the drugs.

"I… I've had some troubles sleeping since leaving Alabasta.

"That's nothing to apologize about," Sanji said, still not understanding the issue. The medicine Vivi handed him was a powder without a scent, but with a sugary taste that was probably there to hide the real bitterness of it. It really would do best to put in in a tea then.

"I… I suppose not. It's just… I've always felt so guilty to need to turn to drugs to sleep."

"It's understandable to go that route though," Sanji said as he searched the shelves inside the pantry for where he knew he'd seen a box of tea leaves. "Your country in unrest, acting as a spy, always on your toes, unable to trust anyone and surrounded by enemies. I can't imagine anyone sleeping soundly under that kind of pressure. Here we go!"

Finally locating the big box, Sanji pulled opened the lid to find an assortment of dried ingredients in neat, orderly rows. Half of it were ready mixes, but the other half was separated leaves, roots, petals and dried pieces of fruit, allowing Sanji the freedom to mix to his heart's content.

Right now he went for the ready mix of chamomile tea.

"What are you going to do?" the princess asked.

"I'll just make a chamomile tea tonight, but since Ruffy… well, she asked me to help her get in shape."

Vivi recognized a cover-up when she heard one, and though it hurt a little, she understood. Sanji-san was loyal to Ruffy-san.

"You really don't mind me using some of these?" the cook asked and held up Vivi's sleeping aid.

At first, the princess hesitated, then she made a bold decision. Somewhere in the back of her mind she could hear Igaram groan behind the hands that rubbed his frustrated face, having something to say about Vivi's personality that she'd never listened to.

"You can have it all. I'm not surrounded by enemies anymore, hiding behind a fake identity, worrying if I can afford to fall asleep."

Sanji-san's smirk was one of approval. "Definitely, Vivi-chan. If any of those buffoons out there bother you, I'm your knight in shining armour! There to ensure you feel safe, guarding your sleep so that your eyes can keep their heavenly lustre."

Vivi blushed, flustered at the boldness of the cook's words and couldn't help but holding her hands up, despite the man not taking a single step towards her. "T-thank you, Sanji-san. I'll go out and see if Carue needs me."

Closing the door behind her, Vivi stood there for a second, and almost burst out laughing. She'd been courted before, had had men read poems to her, and Vivi had never liked it. But that Sanji. He could speak such cringeworthy words unironically.

It was sweet.

Smiling to herself, Vivi hurried to fetch her medicine, casting only a glance at Usopp-san and Mr Bushido who had currently pinned Ruffy-san down under a crate, with Usopp-san sitting on it.

* * *

Sanji felt bad. His relationship with Ruffy wasn't as carefree as what she had with any of the others, so when he came out with tea for the whole crew, holding Ruffy's cup separately and watching her accept it, Sanji felt like he should do something to punish himself.

Ruffy. Well, she was honestly exhausted. In her day to day life she always paced herself to last as long as possible without sleep, and sometimes food, but today all of her energy was spent because she'd let her guard down, and those huge heartbeats she felt weren't letting up long enough for her to distance herself from them. She couldn't hear any of the heartbeats from her crew anymore, and that added anxiety to the mix, leaving Ruffy drained.

The tea Sanji served her was sweet, and whatever the cook had put into it, Ruffy had to appreciate the way it soothed her.

It was Nami who sat down beside Ruffy and put an arm around her, allowing the captain to rest her head against Nami's shoulder.

"Tonight, I'll introduce you to the girls' quarters," Nami said, ignoring the look Vivi sent them.

Ruffy hummed sleepily, a melody she was too tired to continue once the air ran out. Nami couldn't help but smile widely in recognition and locked eyes with the others.

"It's a lullaby Belle-Mere used to sing to Nojiko and I when we were really young, about a mother and child listening to a lonely howl of a wolf."

"Oh, I think I know that song," Sanji smiled. "It goes something like; Howling wolf in the lonely night."

The navigator was about to reply when Ruffy changed position. She turned more fully into Nami's body, putting her arms around her and nuzzled her head properly into Nami's neck, a sigh escaping her. Ruffy was asleep.

Nami felt her heart swell with love, and hoped it wasn't visible on her face. She took a sip of tea to hide whatever expression she was making.

"Chamomile tea is such a classic," she sighed.

"Do you need help to put her to bed?" Zoro offered. Nami glared slightly at him for the teasing tilt to his mouth, but the gentleness in his eyes made it too hard to retort.

"No," she declined the offer instead. "She's not big enough that I can't carry her myself."

That said, Nami really didn't want to move. Ruffy had moulded herself so comfortably against her side, a warmth growing between their bodies that Nami wanted to cherish.

"I'm just glad it worked," Usopp sighed quietly and scratched the back of his head. "I've never seen her act like this."

"True," Zoro said slowly. "She's been talking about huge heartbeats all day too."

"What does that mean?" Vivi asked.

"Not sure actually," Usopp answered. "It's not consistent. I mean, Ruffy listens to our hearts in order to bond with us, but when she listens to heartbeats it doesn't appear to be the same scenario."

"I think Ruffy said it like; people take things to heart, and they stay there. Like Belle-Mere's lullaby just now."

"The heart is a complicated thing," Sanji said and lit another cigarette. "It holds both love and hatred and everything in between. Why would explaining what she hears inside a heart make sense?"

The group lapsed into a contemplative silence.

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Usopp agreed. "Well, I have first watch. You guys head off to bed, it's been a long day."

Everyone nodded, and Nami carefully shifted her body so she could put her arms around Ruffy. Sanji came over and helped the navigator stand up properly with Ruffy carried bridal style between them until Nami found her footing.

"Thank you."

Vivi walked before Nami to open the hatch and let them all down into their room. It wasn't big, fitting only two beds, a shared night table and a desk that held a few of Nami's personal belongings. During the past three nights Vivi had claimed one of the beds as hers, since Nami had said Ruffy wasn't using it. For the first time she realized why; Ruffy and Nami shared a bed!

Vivi was a princess and had been raised as such. In her world, the way she knew it, people only shared a bed with a lover. But Ruffy and Nami were both girls!

"I… I don't mind it!" Vivi said hurriedly, only to receive a strange look from Nami. "I-I have met people before w-who fell in love with th-the same gender!" Vivi explained, flushing brightly.

Laid on the bed beside Nami, Ruffy snuggled into the older girl's body and, hidden from Vivi's view, bit into the bared skin under Nami's collarbone.

Nami felt it, and dearly hoped Vivi didn't notice her stiffening because Gods know how that would be received. She had no intention of letting the princess keep believing, or coming up with these strange love stories.

"Where do you even get those ideas from? Go to sleep, and I'll show you my library in the morning. Nojiko might have thrown in some romance novel if you're that hungry for love stories."

And with that, Nami settled in and fell asleep.

* * *

_"…wolf, oh wolf. Please turn away. You'll never have my baby."_

_Nami wasn't tired. She really wasn't. But she closed her eyes anyway and listened to Belle-Mere's voice._

_All around her, the sounds of flutes joined in with Belle-Mere's humming. Nami frowned in confusion, opened her eyes and turned around._

_Dadan was playing an enormous bamboo flute that gave off a deep, soothing sound that mixed nicely with the brighter notes that some of the other bandits played. _

_"Sleep my child, you're safe in my arms," one bandit sang with his hoarse vocals, making Ruffy want to giggle and tell him he sounded scary. But of the three, she was the only one awake, and she didn't want to wake her friends._

_One of the figures beside her stirred restlessly. Ruffy lay herself on top of them and sang along. "Wolf, oh wolf. Please turn away."_

_Nami sighed and turned back to Belle-Mere, feeling her mother's fingers comb through her hair and heard Nojiko's even breathing beside her._


End file.
